


Vren

by Icandigelvis



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Creature!Kageyama, Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Horror, Monsters, Multi, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Slow Build, Vren
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-08
Updated: 2017-02-24
Packaged: 2018-06-01 02:34:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 51,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6497419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Icandigelvis/pseuds/Icandigelvis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was the boots that caught Shoyo's attention. They looked new and expensive sticking up from the tall grass, visible from the small trail he was walking on. He cautiously trudged closer, almost against his will.<br/>What Shoyo didn't notice, however, was the creature watching him; blue eyes following the oblivious human.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Yukigaoka

Shoyo was hurrying down the stope hill in his worn shoes, side stepping the last part. He had many times jumped and more than once twisted his foot on a rock or something in his hurry. You’d think he’d learned his lesson after 15 years. At least he was careful today.

It wasn’t a particularly hot day considering it was June; winds were warm but above the small village of Yukigaoka hovered a cloudy sky. No rain had fallen yet but nor had the sun showed up for long.

Shoyo glanced back up at the road in front of him, hands gripping his bag hung around his waist. He could see the local farmer boys strut by the horizon, heading Shoyo’s way. It was far for the eye but Shoyo had the hidden sun behind him to his advantage and casually turned onto the small path leading into the woods. He knew this was land owned by one of the farmers but the small trampled trail was already used by a couple people who were in a hurry, and probably by the farmer himself. Surely he didn’t mind.

The farmer boys where a group of 5, sometimes 6 boys who were the sons of the two farmers in Yukigaoka. Shoyo had gotten on their bad side since day one of school and when he was alone like this he’d rather just ignore them fully instead of starting something.

After passing the big stone shaped like a pig he took a right like he usually did, jumping over twigs and roots. The cool weather was nice for a change and he felt like going over to Izumi to play toss-ball. Or rather, _bother_ Izumi to play with him since his yard was bigger than Shoyo’s. However, his friend was more interested in football so Shoyo usually had to indulge him with some in exchange for a couple tosses. They used the same ball for both sports; it wasn’t like they had any other to begin with.

When he exited from the tall pine trees and walked up to the tall ryegrass Shoyo frowned as a horrible smell downed upon him. It reminded him of rat shit or molding food. 

“Shit,” he cursed as another wave hit him, looking around with narrowed eyes, afraid he would step into something. He could see a small clearing in the rye to his right and with careful steps he closed in on whatever it was. His shoes trampled down onto the grass where someone else had already made their way forwards. Which was odd considering this part of the field seemed abandoned by the farmer. Shoyo thought he was the only one who passed here to reach his house.

Birds suddenly flew from the ground a couple meters in front of him. A dead animal, Shoyo guessed.

But as the stench got worse he lifted his shirt to cover his mouth and noise, holding it in place as he got closer to something lying in the field, something dark.

It was the boots that caught his attention. They looked new, expensive and were visible from the small trail Shoyo was walking on. Almost against his will he trudged closer.

Shoyo felt a shiver run down his body as he stared at the figure in front of him, an older man it looked like, with sunken skin and dirty clothes. There was blood, mostly dried and something leaking onto the ground by his head.

And the flies; how Shoyo hadn’t put any thought about them before was foolish.

His eyes traveled up to the old man’s face where he noticed his eyes were gone, the sockets gaping empty at him. The mouth was lying open, yellow teeth digging into the ground and that was enough for Shoyo as he stumbled backwards, turning around to heave into the tall grass. It tasted sour and horrible on his tongue and he was gasping for breath between each wave of throwing up.

His throat hurt and his eyes were watering; he couldn’t get the picture out of his head as he tried to calm himself down. The smell was still lingering around him, but as horrible as it was, the taste of vile in his mouth blocked it out enough.

With shaking fingers he gripped his water skin that was fastened to the belt on his waist and cleaned out his mouth before taking three big gulps. He carefully put the cork back on the water bottle, drying his mouth with his hand.

The man had to have been dead for a couple of days now; animals had been there and some still were. Crows were yelling loudly above him and Shoyo cleared his throat, trying not to eye the still figure as he passed him. He would have to tell his mother when he got home, she would know what to do. Someone in town would most likely take care of it and move it. Maybe the farmer who owned the land.

A grunt further to his right made Shoyo almost piss himself on the spot, instead he flew high in the air with a silent scream. He stumbled forwards with eyes scanning above the tall grass to his right. There was a large, alone oak up on a small hill, also covered by the tall grass and Shoyo thought he saw something dark contrast the light grass up there as well.

“Shit,” he repeated in a whisper, bending down slightly and for once thanking his short height. His clothes were light enough for today, the color close to the rye he was passing through; hiding him well. If there were more people still around, possibly bandits, he would have to be careful. Maybe the old man had actually been killed and the murderer was still around.

Which really wasn’t likely considering the body’s condition. But Shoyo’s wild fantasy didn’t care, the boy’s legs trembling with both fright and adrenaline.

Maybe someone was hurt and needed help? Or maybe it was just one of the countless deer Yukigaoka was cursed with. Shoyo didn’t mind them too much; they were pretty and plenty of people said their presence was one of peace and a blessing. Those people were not farmers or people with yards though. Shoyo’s mother had more than once tried to grow her own sweet potatoes and cherry trees but nope; the deer ate it all.

Another grunt was heard and Shoyo crouched further down. He should at least check it out, especially if someone was hurt.

On light feet he made his way slowly towards the oak and could see where the grass cleared around the tree. He tried peeking forwards and his eyes caught something tied around the tree. A chain, he realized. It was exceptionally thick and looked incredibly heavy, already having left marks in the tree. Another slightly thinner chain was attached to it and Shoyo followed it with his eyes, turning further to the left. He took a careful step forwards to lean out from the tall grass only to discover that the chain disappeared into the tall grass itself.

The same tall grass Shoyo was hiding in.

Something felt wrong, something felt horribly wrong and Shoyo felt his body freeze up. Ever so slowly he glanced further to his left. He thought he could make something out in the grass, the wind slowly moving the straws back and forth. And in a split second, Shoyo saw them.

A pair of eyes. Staring straight at him through the grass, reminding him of a cat’s. Except those eyes were way too big to belong to a cat.

Shoyo’s reflexes were slow and he fell back with a yelp at first, scrambling backwards. He gasped out in fear and continued to stumble backwards, hands getting scratched up on the rough ground. As long as he fled backwards. The chain probably couldn’t reach much further.

But nothing seemed to follow him. Whatever large animal it was it hadn’t moved as Shoyo could still make out the dark silhouette in front of him.

His mind was already wandering to whatever it was that had been watching him. He couldn’t prevent thinking the word ‘vren’ as his mind put facts together. It was way too big for a cat, and no mountain lions wondered as far down here. And Shoyo was also sure his mother had taught him mountain lions weren’t black. A large dog or a wolf could be possible, Shoyo thought to himself. A vren would be highly unlikely, he was just scaring himself.

Standing on two legs, demanding them not to shake too much, he walked around a bit towards the right, towards the tree. The animal was still lying in the same place but from this point of view Shoyo could make out a much larger body than he had imagined.

Holy fuck.

It had to be…

The creature was much bigger than the few grey wolves Shoyo had seen last year during the cold winter. A shiver ran down to his spine as he caught the pair of eyes watching him again. Either it was too tired to move or it was actually hurt. Because from what Shoyo could see the only thing moving was its eyes and chest with slow breathing. Shoyo was putting two and two together, figuring out the dead man had to be the vren’s owner.

Shoyo had only seen vrens twice before but knew they could range in sizes and appearances. They resembled wolves the most, but had claws like bears. A vren’s ears were usually further apart than a wolf's and the teeth much sharper. ‘The teeth are lethal and can crush metal’ Shoyo remembered reading in one of the books from school. People called them monsters, and not without reason.

The main difference, however, between vrens compared to wolves or bears, was the intelligence. A vren had a mind on the same level as humans; some argued less, some argued more. Shoyo had seen the creature only twice in his life, at two different occasions.  Both had been owned by rich businessmen who were just passing through Yukigaoka.

The vren had many different stories of their origins but what most people seemed to agree on was that they suddenly just appeared. It was when the war had just started, and they were just _there_. And an odd creature it was, because it was no animal. One of the most important thing to note about a vren was their faithfulness, and their rules. A vren wouldn’t, or rater _couldn't_ , break an oath or promise. Which is what humanity took advantage of. Now vrens were used as body guards, transporters and soldiers. They would fight for humans and follow orders of whomever they had made an oath to.

And they were absolutely ruthless when ordered to. Many called them the devil’s dogs and a lot of people didn’t want to do with the vrens at all, in fear they would out-trick them. As the humans knew, vrens weren’t stupid and could cause damage unimaginable to humans. A vren without ownership, a free vren, was the biggest danger humanity could meet. The creature was made to kill; it was a skilled assassin and if ordered the wrong things, could cause a disaster.

And if Shoyo was correct and the vren’s owner was the dead man, he could be in a dangerous situation.

Then again, as Shoyo came close and closer, the vren didn’t even move its head to look at him.

“Hello?” He found himself asking, because he didn’t really know how to speak to a vren. He knew some of the creatures preferred old English and some didn’t speak much at all. In school they learned that the vren was useful but also incredibly wise. _'Never underestimate a vren.'_

The intense stare was still there but there came no reply. Shoyo gathered himself and carefully walked around to face the animal again, keeping his distance. If the thing launched at him he would be gone, surely. He wasn’t sure how far the chain reached but it wasn’t stretched straight between the tree and neck of the vren; so probably a bit further.

“Are… are you okay?” Shoyo tried instead and as he carefully crouched down a couple meters in front of the creature. He realized by now that the vren was indeed much larger than he originally thought. Maybe it was an old one? Or an arctic type, as he was sure he'd read those were usually larger. But then again, weren’t the arctic types always white?

The predator's eyes were still focused on him and at least a minute passed before Shoyo couldn’t handle the tense atmosphere, clearing his throat. If a vren’s owner died, was the vren free? Shoyo couldn’t remember all the rules and bit his lip. For once he wished he paid more attention during those particular classes in school. As the son to a tailor he never even imagined he would stumble upon a vren alone.

He took a careful step forwards, eyeing the vren as he did. It still didn’t move and he carefully took another. Furrowing his eyebrows, Shoyo now got a closer look of the collar around the beast’s neck, his stomach turning at the sight of the dried and clogged up blood. It might be a controlling collar, one with spikes on the inside. He shuddered at the thought, figuring it would explain all the blood.

Which meant, according to Shoyo’s limited knowledge, this vren was being transported. Probably?  It did make more sense since the old dead man didn’t exactly look wealthy, apart from the shoes. He was just a transporter.

“The old man over there, he’s dead… but I’m sure you already realized,” Shoyo said, keeping his voice down. The vren still didn’t move or make any indication it was listening to Shoyo; its ears were lying flat against its head.

“I… I have water,” he tried instead and finally he got a reaction, the smallest of movement from one of the ears. Then the vren sluggishly moved its head up slightly and even though it was a slow motion Shoyo couldn’t help but to stumble a bit backwards.

Okay, he had to man up a little. The vren was simply moving its head.

“If I give you water, can you promise not to hurt me?” he said, fighting his instincts that told him to run.

“Yes,” a raspy voice was heard and it took Shoyo a good couple seconds before he realized it was the vren who spoke. Its mouth was just barely open but then he saw it move, only just slightly.

“I swear.”

“O-okay,” Shoyo breathed, gripping for his water skin and untying it from his belt. It wasn’t full anymore but probably better than nothing. And if he remembered correctly, there was a small stream just a little further from here where he could fetch more.

“Okay,” he repeated and carefully walked forwards, his body tense and legs ready to sprint if something went wrong.

‘He swore’ Shoyo repeated in his head, convincing himself they couldn’t break promises. He would be safe, and hopefully this might get him a reward of some sort. He could contact the mayor and inform him of his find, or maybe there were already news about a loose vren. He could possibly make quite a sum of that.

When he was almost in front of the vren he watched it open its mouth slowly and turn a bit to the side on the ground. Shoyo had never seen a vren’s teeth before, only in books and heard people’s descriptions. He knew they were sharp as the weapons they were, but he was still overwhelmed. Compared to a dog’s they were more knife-like and more in number. The fangs were larger both in the upper and lower jaw. The tongue was lying slightly out of its mouth, making the vren look even more like a dog. Apart from the monster-like, razor-sharp teeth of course.

“Don’t bite me,” Shoyo whispered as he crouched down, fully stretching out his arm to only _just_ reach the vren’s mouth, slowly pouring the water into its large chops.

When his bottle was empty he watched the vren run its tongue along his lips to catch any water that escaped. Shoyo stared for a moment, still quite captivated, but froze when the vren lifted its head from the ground, eyes meeting his. The sound of metal against metal was heard as the chains moved and Shoyo stood up again, walking a bit to the side to inspect the neck.

“I can get more water, if you just give me a moment,” he concluded after a moment. He was no doctor, he had no idea how to treat something like _that_. But leaving the vren was dangerous; it was surely close to starvation by now. How many days had passed?

No, Shoyo would go get more water, make sure the vren was okay and then go speak to his mother.

“I’ll be back in a minute, just wait,” Shoyo said, almost adding a ‘don’t go anywhere’ before realizing that would make him look stupid. Which he probably already did, considering he went up to a vren without an owner. An alive one at least.

But if it was only being transported it meant the vren probably had a real owner it was heading to. The truce between a transporter and a vren was only temporarily. Just like the one it and Shoyo now had. Water for promised safety. Just a temporarily oath.

The boy stumbled to his feet, walking towards the end of the rye-grass until he reached the other side of the forest, now darting towards the stream he could hear in front of him. Shoyo crouched down and collected the water skin full before securely screwing the cork shut. The way back he thought about how he should prosecute this entire thing. Should he go to his mother first or was it even more urgent than he thought? The dead man seemed to have died from illness, most likely, and the vren could have been without water or food for days, considering the already decomposing human body.

When he reached the tall grass he couldn’t help but fear that he would find the spot empty, only trampled grass where the vren had lied and the next second he would get attacked from behind. Compared to only water, he was probably a better meal for the creature. Then again, he’d been taught that vren’s couldn't break their oaths; ‘it’s the entire thing about them’. But still he couldn’t help but to doubt. Probably because humans weren’t as trustworthy. And humans were what Shoyo was used to.

But the vren was in the exact same place, same position even. Its eyes moved to follow Shoyo as he jogged up to it again, pushing the tall grass away from his body.

“Ah,” Shoyo said as he waited for the vren to open its mouth, unsure of what to do when it never moved to do so.

Instead it raised its head further up, narrowing its eyes at Shoyo who felt his knees almost wobble at the sight, stumbling backwards in fear of the sudden hostility.

“Why are you helping me?” A deep, raspy voice asked and the human grabbed the water skin in a tighter grip, afraid he might drop it if he bolted. It had been his father’s, and while it was well-used, Shoyo kept it on him at all times.

“Well… you’re someone’s, right? Wouldn’t they want you back?” Shoyo tried, figuring honesty would be the best answer. He was still unexperienced when it came to talking to vrens, but he’d heard many stories about them.

“So for the reward?” the vren asked, eyes still staring holes through the almost whimpering human. He could hear the distinguishable accent the vren spoke with, it sounded a lot like old English, if not a bit northern.

“My mother is very sick… she can’t work very well anymore and because of that we can’t afford medicine. And grandpa is getting old… So if I got a reward, I could buy her the medicine she needs,” Shoyo said, staring at his feet instead of meeting the intense, blue eyes.

“Do you have… you have an owner, right? I mean a f-first one,” Shoyo asked, this time watching the vren for a reaction. As expected, none came.

Shoyo was educated enough to know about the owner laws, basically because they were pretty simple. There was a first owner, which fully owned a vren, sworn by the vren. A second owner could be a transporter or temporary owner; a lot of people could have this oath to a particular vren. For example if a vren was being transported by ship he could swear to everyone on-board.

“I do not have a first owner, and my second owner is lying behind you,” he said, his voice slightly lower.

It didn’t have an owner.

It was a free vren.

Shit.

“But you won’t hurt me,” Shoyo quickly said, half as a question, half assuring himself.

“No, I swore. It would not be in my favor anyway,” came the honest reply. _Honesty_. That was what they were all about.

“So… can you swear not to hurt me or my family, and not to run away if I try to help you out of that collar? Because I’m sure you’re in pain,” Shoyo asked, keeping his voice collected.

“A-and I’m also not quite sure who to turn to in town. Admitting I’ve found a free vren is going to get a lot of attention,” he confessed.

“I would advise against that. But it is not my choice. And I can swear a second oath to you,” the vren spoke, Shoyo now hearing the roughness returning to it.

“Okay… but drink first,” he said, almost sighing in relief as the beast opened its mouth, putting its head down on the ground again.

“Second oath, that’s a transporters oath, right?” Shoyo asked, now daring to go closer to the vren to inspect the collar and chains, but yet not touch. The water-skin was soon empty and he fastened it back at his belt.

“Yes.”

“So, you can’t hurt or leave me?” Shoyo asked, abstaining from whimpering at the sight of the mess of dried blood around the collar. He could also see a tail lying curled around the legs, something he knew not all vren’s had. The ears in particular were also much longer than he’d remembered from the two vrens he had seen.

“I have to obey you in moderation. If you would lead me on the wrong way I have the right to question it, but still not escape. You cannot order me to hurt my first owner or his relatives in any way.”

 _‘A first owner than it didn’t have,’_ Shoyo thought. It would have to obey him in moderation, probably until he got to a first owner. Which again, this vren didn’t have.

He leaned back to meet the blue eyes, considering it.

Shoyo knew he was still underage and it was another year before he turned 18 and could actually own a vren. He could still swear the ownership-oath though, right? The vren was ultimately the one who decided that; human laws were only human laws.

The vren looked undernourished and weak under the shaggy fur, but standing up it would probably reach his shoulder, possibly higher. He didn’t have the courage to risk it, not with a vren.

“It’s not good enough,” he said after collecting the courage. The vren didn’t narrow its eyes or growl like Shoyo had expected. Instead it just continued to look at him in silence.

“I cannot,” it finally spoke. “You are still a child.”

“A child?” Shoyo snorted, clearly offended. “Then you can stay here. Have fun. Maybe someone else will pass,” he said, fixing his belt in place and moving to turn around.

“Wait.”

“Yes?” Shoyo asked, looking at the vren over his shoulder.

“I will do it.”

“Do what?”

“Swear the ownership-oath.”

“Good. Let me hear it,” he said after turning towards him again. It sounded like a _him_ , at least. 

“What’s your name?” The vren asked the same question Shoyo was just about to ask, making the human hesitate before replying.

“Shoyo Hinata.”

With a low and slightly resolute voice the vren pronounced the words, one after one:

“By my name, Kageyama Tobio, and by the east wind, the north sun, the west sea and the south land as witness I swear an oath by my life and honour to Shoyo Hinata to obey, follow, protect and sacrifice myself for them until the oath is broken, by them, by their death or by my death.”

Shoyo shivered as he watched the vren speak, then hesitantly nodded, unsure if he was supposed to reply in some way.

“Uh… are we done? Or should I say something?” He asked after a minute of them both just staring at each other.

“The oath is complete,” the vren stated and Shoyo nodded.

“So, like, I can touch you? Because I think I need to in order to help you with that,” he said, briefly gesturing to the collar.

“You can do whatever you like,” the vren confirmed and Shoyo nodded again.

“Stick your tongue out,” Shoyo said quickly, not missing the questioning look he got before a pink tongue poked out from the almost closed jaws.

“Ah, thanks, sorry, I just… you know, wanted to make sure,” he embarrassedly mumbled as he walked around the vren to crouch by its side.

It was quiet around them as Shoyo took a look on the collar, very lightly holding some longer fur to the side as it covered his view in the wind. The clouds were still as grey but might have gotten a bit darker, to Shoyo’s worry. The birds were still singing around them, the familiar chirping of the black bird usually surrounding Yukigaoka by this time of the year.

“It’s locked,” Shoyo cursed, already making up a plan of how he could sneak out the metal tools without his mother noticing.

“The transporter carried the key around his neck,” the vren, Kageyama, said.

“Ah shit,” Shoyo groaned, standing back up.

“Okay… just, give me a minute. I need to find a stick,” he grumbled, looking around him. He ended up walking back to the edge of the forest before he found a twig thick and long enough for his comfort. He didn’t want to get any closer to the body than he needed. But if he remembered correctly he had seen something like a key or necklace around the man’s neck.

With one hand holding his shirt over his nose, the other one holding the stick in a tight grip, he made his way towards the spot he had tried to avoid for the last half an hour or so. He could already spot the man and collected himself with two deep breaths before walking up to him again.

He looked exactly the same, which wasn’t a surprise, and Shoyo carefully reached out with the stick to throw the fabric of the jacket to the side. When the cloth slightly stuck to the body he couldn’t help but to dry heave once.

No, he could do this.

The key was there, highly visible, the gold chain tied around the man’s necklace. Shoyo easily caught the string onto his stick and tried sidestepping around the man to somehow ease it over his head. But it kept getting stuck around his neck and when the entire head moved with a particularly hard yank, Shoyo almost wailed aloud.

He only gave himself a second to collect himself, figuring he should do it quickly before he chickened out, and gave a hard tug upwards instead. Like he had suspected, the head came right off and the key flew high in the air. Shoyo watched it land to his right and immediately stumbled to get it instead of staying for another minute to adore his work of beheading the poor man’s already dead body.

Shoyo felt disgusted as he picked up the key with his bare fingers, the metal also a lot heavier than he expected.

He didn’t say anything as he returned with the key to Kageyama and neither did the vren. Shoyo crouched down on the side the lock was on, the hole at least clean of the blood. It was the underside of its neck that looked the worst and Shoyo already feared removing the collar.

“Okay, so as I said, there’s a stream just a little while into the forest. I can clean you off there and then I’ll take you home where I can bandage your neck with cloths or something,” he planned out aloud, mostly for himself. The vren didn’t nod or say anything but Shoyo knew he was listening.

He inserted the key and almost jumped when it clicked as he was turning it. The clasp jumped up and Kageyama let out a low rumble for a second.

“I’m sorry,” Shoyo whispered, carefully removing the lock to throw it to the ground. He pulled the chain through, slowly and attentively making sure he didn’t touch the collar. When the chain was through and dropped to the ground Shoyo stood to his feet, biting his lip.

“Can you stand?” he asked and the vren started moving, its breaths’ coming out raspy and hurried as it slowly and unsteadily got to it’s feet. Shoyo couldn’t help but to hold out his hands on instinct if the creature fell. But as Kageyama got to a slightly crouched state, Shoyo realized he already reached taller than him.

He was huge.

Much bigger than the vrens Shoyo had seen in town. He knew those had been the most common species, the grey vren, but this was ridiculous.

“You are quite small for a human,” the vren replied and Shoyo realized he had spoken aloud.

“I’m still g-growing,” he defended himself and the vren slowly turned his head to look at Shoyo. Look _down_ at Shoyo.

“I figured.”

“Follow,” Shoyo muttered along with inaudible curses as he turned towards the forest, holding grass to the side as Kageyama slowly followed him on shaky limbs.

“Just a little bit further,” Shoyo assured him as they walked over roots and rocks in the forest, the stream now in view.

It was quite terrifying to turn around and watch the large, black creature hoovering right behind him. The human had to constantly remind himself that he was now an owner of said beast, and that he wouldn’t try to kill or hurt him for no reason.

“You can walk down into the water, drink as much as you want,” Shoyo said, stopping to kick of his shoes, watching the large vren walk down on unsteady feet to the water. It immediately started lapping water and Shoyo watched with interest, eyes stuck to the giant creature.

The human shrugged out of his shirt and rolled up his pants, unclasping his belt to place it securely on a stone before wading down into the water. He took the key and washed it in the water with sand, only the memory of the horrible stench left.

Not until then did it hit him that the vren was gone. How could he be so stupid?

“Kageyama?” he called, fear in his voice.

“Yes?” The vren’s head popped up behind one of the rocks in the river.

“I thought you escaped,” Shoyo said, breathing out I relief. He walked the short steps over to him. Him; yes, it had to be male with its deep voice. Shoyo hadn’t taken a peek between its legs but figured there was no reason for him to actually do so.

“I have sworn an oath. Besides, where would I go?” Kageyama said.

“Have you never broken an oath?” Shoyo asked, careful he wasn’t stepping on any wet rocks before sitting on a dry one beside the vren.

“No.”

“But if an owner asks you to do something illegal? Or to sacrifice your life?”

Something changed in the deep blue eyes, but his voice was still as serious.

“Most things I’m ordered to do are illegal. And when it comes to sacrificing my life I guess I have just been lucky.”

“What do you mean illegal?”

“If you want to get rid of someone and you are rich enough, you can buy a vren and let it do the job.”

“As a killer?” Shoyo hesitantly asked, even though he knew the answer. They had talked about this in school as well, how the vren put the oath above all else laws.

Kageyama nodded.

“So if I asked you to kill someone, would you do it?”

“I’ve sworn to obey you, no matter what.”

“Even if it costs you your life?”

“Yes, owner,” he nodded slowly with a blank face.

Shoyo trembled from what he said but also the way he said it. What if he had someone he actually hated, someone he really wanted to get rid of. Would he be tempted? To point out the person and say the command.

He didn’t know and that frightened him. The key felt heavy in his hand and he wondered if he should actually remove the collar or not.

But it was hurting him and if Kageyama was telling the truth, it wasn’t necessary.

He regarded the blood-covered collar.

“You… you will have to lie on your side for this to work,” Shoyo said as he carefully jumped down into the stream, glad it was summer of all the seasons possible.

Without a word the vren obeyed, unsurely and with a slight frown, but he did. Shoyo walked around and carefully put a hand on its back. Even when Kageyama flinched he kept it there; he would have to do this and the sooner the better.

“Lean down a bit,” Shoyo said as he tried cleaning off some of the dried blood around the collar, watching Kageyama’s now closed eyes for a painful reaction. He was twitching slightly when Shoyo would get close or bare his teeth for a second before relaxing again. The second keyhole was now free and with some difficulty it clicked open. Dropping the key in the stream Shoyo gave Kageyama a couple seconds to breathe, finding out he himself needed a second too. It was scary, to say the least, but Shoyo gathered courage before putting two firm hands on the collar. It was made of two half circles and since the lock was gone it should be easy to remove, apart from the fact that it had spikes on the inside. Together with all the clogged up blood Shoyo wondered how he should go about it. Fast or slow.

“I’m sorry if this hurts, I’m gonna try to make it quick,” Shoyo said and waited for Kageyama to take another deep breath before pulling the collar apart, throwing it away. The vren was growling under him, his eyes shut tight and Shoyo gave him a minute before carefully running his hands around the edges of his neck. Cleaning off the dried blood that was left was easier as most of it had followed with the collar, but Shoyo still worried about the pink, bare skin on the vren’s neck. He was bleeding at some spots, but other than that it looked good enough for the situation. One look at the rejected collar lying in the grass and the earlier hidden spikes made Shoyo gasp at the cruelty of it all.

“Are you hurt anywhere else?” Shoyo asked, slowly letting the vren sit back up in the stream, the water flowing from the thick fur like a waterfall. The human’s pants were completely soaked from the water but he should’ve expected that.

“My right ankle is not moving like it should, but it might only be a sprain. Other than that I am just hungry,” Kageyama said.

“Our house is not far from here, and I have some dried meat” Hinata informed him, trying to casually inspect the vren now that he got a closer look. His fur was black as coal and a lot thicker to the feel than he had expected. Also softer. The memory of the other two vrens he had seen came to mind, and while both of them had been common grey ones, their fur looked scabby and rough. Sure, running his hands through Kageyama’s black hair wasn’t like petting one of Shimada’s precious retrievers. But it didn’t feel like fir twigs as he had predicted.

One of Kageyama’s hands – because they really looked more like hairy hands than paws – was gripping a rock for balance and Shoyo absently swallowed at the sight of his claws for fingers.

But what still put Shoyo off the most was his size. He knew vrens could be big, some taller and some longer, but he couldn’t remember black-coated vrens in this size…

Then again he never paid much attention in school, so he could’ve very well missed something like that.

After they finished up at the river and Kageyama swallowed down the pieces of dried meat, Hinata asked Kageyama to follow him, making sure more than once that the creature was right behind.

It was getting darker and darker outside and while Shoyo had walked the thick forest many times before he still felt quite odd. He didn’t know if it was just because of Kageyama looming right behind him or because of something else. Maybe he had just eaten something bad.

“Wait,” came the deep voice behind him and Shoyo stopped, turning around. Kageyama had stopped, his head turned to the right.

“What?” Shoyo asked and found himself whispering for some reason.

“Get down,” the vren replied, running forwards to yank him down by his arm as Shoyo apparently was too slow to do so.

“There are people with masks and crossbows ahead. They appear hostile.”

“Crossbows?” Shoyo hissed in shock, turning to stare at the vren instead of looking ahead; he couldn’t see anything in the dark.

“Are they coming this way?” he whispered after a couple seconds of no reply. The vren shook his head; “No.”

The sudden thought of the mountain people made him pale. Could they be attacking now? Right before the summer festival?

The endless conflicts with the mountain people didn’t seem to get anyone anywhere. It had mostly been settled by simply staying on their own lands as far as Shoyo knew. He had heard rumours at the market last week that the mountain king had passed away and that people were moving in fear of an attack. He had called it rumour, however, as the people he’d overheard speaking were two of the old sailors who seemed to believe anything anyone said.

“Are the masks depicting animals? Like bears?” Shoyo asked, Kageyama replying with a yes.

“Shit,” he cursed. “Tell me if they move, we’ll have to wait this out.”

He patiently waited for Kageyama to say something but the minutes passed without anything happening. Shoyo could occasionally hear someone suddenly speaking louder or the sound of metal against metal.

What in Mother Nature’s name were they doing this far down the mountain?

“I need to go home,” he whispered. Something felt awfully wrong.

“It’s too risky to run out there, I can smell milkweed,” Kageyama said, Shoyo watching him narrow his eyes. He knew the mountain people were good with poisonous plants and flowers and it was what they used to attack. The arrows of their signature crossbows were most likely covered in milkweed then.

“They’re leaving,” the vren then added and after another minute of waiting he finally rose onto all four, continuing out from the tall grass. Shoyo followed right behind, glancing around.

His legs felt slow and heavy as he jogged past the vren to follow the familiar path that would lead him out onto the small field where his mother’s house would stand. Would there be clothes hanging on the clothing line? Maybe not, it had gotten dark fast and Shoyo could see the sun slowly falling behind the pine trees on the other side of the field. Would his mother have put out the jars of chanterelles to chill for the night? Would the ladder reaching into the pear tree still be there because she forgot to remove it?

 

There were no clothes drying in the wind, no jars of chanterelles and the ladder was already lying in the grass.

Instead there was fire. And Shoyo ran, his eyes widening at the sight.

When he reached his house he almost stumbled over the body lying in front the stone steps, but the bright red colour caught his eyes. He’d seen that shirt many times and couldn’t help but to stumble backwards in shock.

“Oh my-“ he gasped, knees starting to wobble at the sight of his grandpa lying face down in the ground. Shoyo wanted to fall down by his side, yank the arrow out of his back but he knew it would be in vain.

His mother and sister. He had to check on them first.

“Mother?!” Shoyo yelled, running up to the door and throwing it open with unexpected force. He could see the kitchen where the fire must’ve started, smoke was already surrounding him and he bent down to breathe easier. The colourful rug she had woven herself was lying crumpled, dirt spread all over the floor.

“Mom! Natsu!” he tried again, jumping at the sound of one of the beams coming down by his right.

“Shoyo,” a voice called behind him and said boy turned around, his teary eyes falling on Kageyama standing in their yard, head hung low but eyes meeting the human’s.

“She’s dead. Her body is over by the well.”

“No,” he heard himself whisper, “she can’t be.” The heat from the fire was starting to become unbearable and another cloud of smoke had him turning and backing away from the house.

Shoyo was suddenly freezing despite the orange flames in front of him. His body felt frozen in place, sound sort of fading away around him.

“Natsu!” he suddenly remembered, coming to his senses. “Did you see my sister? She looks like me, shorter,” Shoyo hurried, gesturing to Kageyama who slowly shook his head.

“There’s no one around for metres. I haven’t checked at your-“

“-neighbours,” Shoyo finished for him, snapping his head in the direction of the wooden house almost hidden over by the road.

With Kageyama right behind he ran towards the house, frantically scanning the building for fire or any signs of a fight happening. When he reached the fence he watched Izumi’s father, Yukitaka-san run outside, holding a pitch fork in a firm grip. His face was nothing but anger.

“Shoyo, thank Mother Nature you’re safe,” he called, running up to him.

“Natsu? Have you seen Natsu?!” Shoyo yelled, grabbing the older man’s shirt for something to hold onto. He was scared his legs would suddenly fail him and let him fall to the ground.

“They took her. They took Izumi too, those devils,” he cursed.

No.

“Did you see it?” Shoyo asked, watching Izumi’s mother step out from the house holding a handkerchief to her face, the other cradling Izumi’s new-born little brother.

“I think I saw her, yes, it must have been her. They took Izumi when he went outside to get water from the well. We heard all the screaming from inside and that’s when I saw them riding away with a horse wagon.”

Shoyo couldn’t find the words, instead he focused his eyes on the ground beneath them, on Yukitaka’s old worn shoes.

“You have to hide, boy. They might come back and- Holy Mother Nature,” the old man suddenly hissed, taking a firm grip of Shoyo’s shoulder and bringing him closer.

Shoyo watched him hold out the pitch fork in a threatening manner, holding Shoyo close to him. He followed the old man’s eyes and turned to see Kageyama standing on guard by the fence. He was once again overwhelmed by the clear-blue, intense eyes watching him, waiting for a command.

“Kageyama… Yukitaka-san, its okay,” he said, struggling out of the grip and holding out his hands flat for the man to lower his weapon. Like he was the actual danger of the two.

“Shoyo, it’s… what have you done?” Yukitaka asked, his eyes unsure and frightened, moving between Kageyama and the human.

“I found him, hurt and on the verge of death. He’s sworn the oath,” Shoyo quickly explained, turning towards the road where the cartage must have continued. He probably didn’t have much time.

“Shoyo Hinata,” a firm voice called and he turned to look at Izumi’s mother in the door, her teary eyes now stern and looking at him. “You’re not going anywhere.”

“I… I have to get her back. I’ll get both back,” he replied, starting to back towards the fence.

“Not today you don’t. The mountain people are still in town, there’s nothing we can do. Koji ran in to help but got shot, we could use a helping hand right now,” her voice brought Shoyo back to reality and he gasped at the realization of everything.

Natsu was gone. Izumi and other children from the village as well.

With stiff legs he walked up the stairs, Yukitaka leading him up the stairs with a hand on his shoulders.

Shoyo’s memory from that evening was mostly blurry. He remembered helping Izumi’s older sister sew the wound in Koji’s shoulder. The smell of alcohol and sweat, the sound of Koji screaming in pain and Izumi’s youngest brother screaming. His hands were bloody when he went to wash up and when he exited the washroom Yukitaka stood there with a bundle of clothes and other small stuff. It was things from his house. It was all he could save.

***-***-***

Shoyo woke the next morning with an awful headache. His feet were hitting the corner of the old kitchen couch he had slept in, his shoulders stiff. Opening his eyes further he could see the sunlight peer through the window and hit the stove, small dust particles dancing around in the light.

It all felt so silent, compared to yesterday.

With shaky movements he slowly sat up, ruffling his hair as he was sure it had flattened out against the rolled up blanket he had used as a pillow.

He heard the sound of Izumi’s mother before he watched her appear behind the door frame, a white scarf wrapped around her shoulders. She always seemed to wear white and light coloured fabrics, Shoyo recalled.

“Good morning, dear,” she smiled at him, opening the door to their food cellar. She bent down to pull out the large sack of oats, the scraping sound against the floor making him twitch.

As the scent of oatmeal started filling the house more members of Izumi’s family turned up, walking into the kitchen one by one. But the atmosphere was different, no one was speaking loudly, everyone seemed to leave Shoyo alone. He was still sat on the couch, staring at the porcelain rooster on the table.

Yukitaka has asked him if he wanted to come with him to search his house, make sure there weren’t more things to save. Shoyo had only shaken his head.

Then it hit him. He’d forgotten about Kageyama.

With weak arms he pushed himself from the couch, ignoring Izumi’s mother’s eyes on him as he made his way towards the entrance. The sun was high in the sky outside, the big oak tree casting a large shadow over the entrance by the fence.

But there he was. Lying on the side with his head up in the air, watching Shoyo with attentive eyes.

Shoyo stayed there for a while, feeling the wind grab his hair and push it around. He walked back inside again but left the door open, entering the kitchen and asking for two bowls of oat meal. She didn’t ask why he needed two, instead told him to help himself as she sat down on a chair, starting to breastfeed and gently rock the baby. She looked worn and tired.

She had lost family too, Shoyo had to remind himself.

With one spoon and the two bowls, one slightly larger, Shoyo walked back outside. He wasn’t sure what Kageyama’s diet usually consisted off but he guessed meat. Hopefully he ate oatmeal. He definitely had to be hungry at least.

Shoyo didn’t say anything as he opened the fence, with some difficulty, and sauntered over to sit down next to Kageyama. He set the bigger bowl down in front of the vren, suddenly wondering if he should’ve brought a spoon for him as well.

“Can you eat like that?” he asked, his voice a bit hoarse. Kageyama nodded but didn’t make any effort to start eating.

“Aren’t you hungry?” Shoyo asked, scooping up his first spoonful.

“I am,” Kageyama said, still eyeing the human like he was waiting for something.

“… Go ahead?” Shoyo said around the warm porridge, Kageyama finally leaning down to cautiously lick and taste first before finally starting to gulp the breakfast down.

Shoyo leaned back against the oak, his eyes catching movement by the door. It was Izumi’s older sister, her blonde hair tied back in a tight braid. Her eyes were fixated on him for a moment before she shut the door behind her, using a bit too much force than necessary.

***-***-***

Shoyo left the next morning. Only Izumi’s mother was awake and met him by the door. He had thought a lot about what he wanted to do and was now determined he was sure. She seemed to realize that, because while she asked him to be careful and think it through, she didn’t try to stop him. Instead she lent him Izumi’s backpack of shiny leather, the one his friend had been so proud of, and packaged dried meat and fruit, an extra set of clothes and a small medical kit. She filled his water skin full and opened up Yukitaka’s weapon drawer. She tied the holster of a thin knife to Shoyo’s belt but made him promise to use it carefully. Lastly she gave him a warm embrace, whispering something in old English against his hair.

And then he was off.

The sun was just in the move of rising and Kageyama sat obediently still outside, moving to stand when Shoyo closed the door to the house after himself. He breathed in the morning air, dew falling from the evening primrose, its yellow petals bouncing when the water fell.

“Come,” he simply said to Kageyama, taking his first step away from Izumi’s plot.

When they wondered through Yukigaoka Shoyo felt his eyes start to sting again; there were no more tears left, he was just tired of crying already. The market was a mess, burned down houses were everywhere, some still releasing smoke. There were still bodies around. Shoyo could tell some people in town had to be left because certain places had been cleaned up and some bodies were covered by cloths. The stone-built pub was still standing, the doors and windows closed and Shoyo could hear two people talking inside.

His hands were twitching to knock and check who were still alive, but knew whoever it was would try to stop him from going after the mountain people.

Because it was straight-out foolish.

It was common knowledge, children being stolen like this would be sold as slaves, most likely in the capital, the large city of Miyagi. The king had his castle there and while Shoyo had never been, he had seen paintings of the grand citadel and of the thousands of guards defending it.

Shoyo was a determined boy, but he would never have dared to go after the mountain people if it wasn’t for the large, ghostly quiet, four-legged creature walking behind him. He still hadn’t asked Kageyama what he wanted to do nor had he explained what he was planning. It felt unfair.

So when they passed the old bridge across the river he stopped, glancing at Kageyama over his shoulder.

“You can walk beside me if you want,” he said, watching the vren nod and walk up to his side.

“I should probably explain what I’m planning,” he started, keeping his eyes forwards as he walked, “I want to get back my sister… I know the mountain people are extremely dangerous and it’s a long distance to Miyagi. But it’s most likely where they’ll be bringing her, together with other children of Yukigaoka.”

Shoyo stopped in his tracks when they reached the forking of the road, east leading to the closest town. He had travelled by horse to Johzenji with Izumi a few times since his friend’s cousin Yuji Terushima lived at a farm there. The town was slightly larger than Yukigaoka and it always reminded Shoyo of festivals; it was colourful, people were loud and happy and they even had a brothel. Shoyo had never gone, of course, but he and Izumi had walked past a couple times, eyes stuck to the big-breasted ladies standing outside.

“I… need help to get there,” he admitted, staring at the gravel under his feet.

“You own me,” Kageyama reminded him and Shoyo shook his head.

“I know, but you must have friends or family too? That you want to see,” he said, trailing off towards the end.

“I do not,” Kageyama simply stated, his voice emotionless.

“So you’ll come with me?” Shoyo asked, glancing up at the vren.

“I’ve sworn to follow you,” he replied. Shoyo knew it wasn’t the same as an actual, honest answer but while he wanted to be as kind as possible and let Kageyama go, he was still frightened by him. And he desperately needed his help; his sister was all he had left and going back to school and moving in with Izumi’s family didn’t feel like a future he wanted. He had the chance right in his hands; to try and get her back. And damn right he was going to take it.

“Okay,” Shoyo nodded, straightening up.

“Let’s go.”


	2. Chidoriyama

They made it into one of the older forest when the sunset was starting. Shoyo wasn’t used to constantly walking so his legs had been feeling heavier the last hour or two. They’d mostly stayed off the road and hid in the thick woods. Because of that the human had a couple scratches on his arms where he had rolled up the long-sleeved shirt because of the summer heat. They were traveling north-east so he knew the weather would grow colder as they went, a jacket packed in his bag along with the meat they shared every now and then. Considering Kageyama’s size he should be much hungrier than the human, but he never made any sign that he was.

They weren’t speaking with each other much and Shoyo was always the one to initiate the conversation, which Kageyama in turn never continued more than a simple answer. Shoyo wished he had more to speak about with the vren or that Kageyama wasn’t as reserved as he was.

Shoyo had been looking out for any possible shelter the last couple minutes but he only came up with big fir trees they could hide under the thick branches of. It would protect against most of the rain but they would still be out in the open. And as they only got deeper into the thick forest Shoyo realized they probably wouldn’t find a better option. His compass told him he was going a bit more north than what he should and he stopped in his tracks, sighing.

“We should probably find some place to rest soon,” he said, turning to look at Kageyama.

“Maybe we could sleep in the trees,” the human suggested, looking up along the incredibly tall pine trees. A raindrop fell on his forehead and he dried it off.

“Do you not want to sleep on the ground?” Kageyama asked and Shoyo looked at him, pressing his lips together.

“Well… I mean there’s bears in these woods, many of them.”

“No bears are going to bother you,” Kageyama said, sounding slightly amused.

Ah. He was probably right.

Shoyo continued through the damp moss, walking on the rocks and roots possible not to get further wet. He spotted a small glade in the forest, eyeing the old fir tree. It was completely dry underneath and there was only yellow, withered grass left on the ground. It would have to do.

He walked over, slightly crouching to check there weren’t any anthills or badger holes in the ground around the tree. When he was satisfied he turned to the vren, the dark creature almost invisible as the sun had set a couple minutes ago.

“Do you think this is fine?” Shoyo asked and Kageyama simply nodded, walking around on the spot before lying down in the damp grass.

“You’ll fit under here too,” Shoyo said, his hands buried in his backpack as he was searching for his jacket to use as a blanket. He was already freezing, and just thinking that it would get colder and colder than this made him shiver.

Kageyama stood up again but made no effort to move in under the branches with him.

“Do you not want to?” Shoyo asked, side-stepping a little to give the vren more room.

“I’m not supposed to touch you,” he said, “only when your life is in danger.”

“Oh…” Shoyo exclaimed, a little unsure of how to make this work with that rule. He was planning on stealing some heat from the other but figured that wouldn’t work now.

“Well, you’ll still fit under here. It’s probably gonna rain tonight, considering the clouds.”

The creature seemed to doubt it a bit but bent down nonetheless to crawl into the space, walking around to lie down with his side to the tree trunk. Shoyo turned to smile at him – and as expected didn’t get one in return – before continuing to search his backpack. He handed Kageyama another piece of dried meat, taking two figs to chew on himself as he splayed out the jacket on the ground. He shuffled into his other spear sweater, wishing he could make a fire. But it would attract attention and animals, not to mention it would take him some time since there wasn’t much dry wood around.

The stars weren’t visible behind the thick clouds. The fir tree’s thick branches also blocked Shoyo’s view of the night sky but it also kept them dry. It was still only pouring, but the air was damp.

And Shoyo was freezing.

He had turned around a couple times but Kageyama’s eyes were always open when he did so he settled for staring out at the forest, his back to the vren. He was hugging himself, now fighting his teeth from shattering.

“This is not gonna work,” he grunted, sitting up to glance at the creature behind him. His blue eyes seemed to almost shine in the dark and Shoyo gulped before scooting a little closer.

“I’m freezing to death here. I know you don’t want to touch me, but at this point I’m not gonna get any sleep _added_ to the fact that I’m most likely getting sick.”

“I said _I’m_ not allowed to touch you. You own me, you can do whatever you want,” Kageyama uttered.

“I…” Shoyo hesitated before grabbing his jacket, shuffling closer to Kageyama’s side. He lied down with his back against him, already feeling the warmth reach him through his clothes. After another minute he turned around to warm his front as well, succeeding in getting hair in his mouth. He heard the vren sigh above him but ignored it, raising his knees to steal as much warmth as possible.

“Help me,” Shoyo pathetically whined after another couple minutes, neither of them falling asleep with all the moving around, from Shoyo’s side, that was.

The vren didn’t say anything but turned onto his side, his body creating a half circle where Shoyo finally felt warm enough to fall asleep, and when he did, he fell asleep fast. All the walking and stressing made him exhausted. But the slow, even beats coming from Kageyama’s body quickly lulled him to sleep.

 

***-***-***

 

The rain made the moss too wet and after Shoyo had sunken down for the fourth time he grunted and pulled his foot up, the pant-leg and shoes completely soaked.

The road it would have to be.

They had been walking for a couple days now, Shoyo was getting used to the soreness of his legs and his backpack got lighter every day. He knew they would have to get into a town sooner or later, to buy food and possibly thicker clothes for the human. Every night he huddled close to Kageyama who no longer seemed to bother. He was pretty awkward about it, for sure, because while he was still very emotionless and acted unaffected, Shoyo was realizing he had another side as well. Kageyama would stare a lot, but he probably wasn’t aware that he did. He also didn’t like snakes, a fear in which he desperately tried to conceal, but as Shoyo picked up a slow worm he tried to absently stay a few meters away from him.

“I and Izumi always hunted these when we were younger. If you caught one you could make the other person do anything you wanted,” Shoyo smiled, carefully letting the small snake down into the grass again. “You have to be careful though, because their tails are really fragile. If you pull it off you’re cursed forever!” Shoyo dramatically yelled, turning to point at the still wary vren.

Kageyama didn’t say anything as Shoyo laughed, but followed when the human started walking again, walking around the grass where he let the snake free.

“Can you hear the road? I though we should’ve reached it by now,” Shoyo said, still gripping the corner of his pants to try to squeeze out the last water as he walked. It was sunny outside, so he would most likely dry when they got out on the gravel road. The sun didn’t reach the forest floor through the tall trees here.

“It’s just ahead,” Kageyama said.

“Did you hear someone?” Shoyo asked, glancing at the other.

“I can smell it.”

“Smell it?”

“Scents of humans and horses who have passed.”

“Ah.”

When Shoyo could see the road himself he slowed down his peace a bit, glancing around them. He became conscious of the sticks breaking under his feet.

“When you hear or smell someone coming, we should hide, okay? It’s mainly the mountain people I’m worried about but there could also be bandits-“ Shoyo stopped himself, realizing he had a vren by his side, silently looking at the other.

“Or you know, just mountain people…” he finished instead. He felt like Kageyama was rolling his eyes behind his back but Shoyo shrugged it off, continuing out towards the road instead. There was no one he could see and the almost flat ground under him felt so much sturdier than the sinking moss. They saved a lot of time by following the road and Shoyo stopped when they road split into two. The sign pointing towards Miyagi was towards the west, which had Shoyo frowning.

“Did we walk too much east? I was sure I followed my compass,” he mumbled, bringing out the small tin box that he carried in the little satchel on his belt.

“There’s a grand lake ahead,” Kageyama explained, “it’s faster to pass from the west because of the mountains on the right.”

“Oh, that explains it,” Shoyo agreed.

It was past mid-day, Shoyo could tell because of the sun, but he had no idea which weekday it was. The weather wasn’t much colder the further they went but it was still summer after all, most likely early August. The nights were the worst.

“Have you been to Miyagi many times before?” Shoyo asked, slowing down to walk beside the other. He’d asked him many times to just walk beside him and while Kageyama had obeyed each time Shoyo figured the other was used to walking behind.

“Yes,” came the simple answer, as always.

“Is the castle as big as people say? That it could hide 5 dragons?”

“I have never seen a dragon so I do not know what that converts into.”

“Humor me,” Shoyo muttered, giving the other a look.

“It is big, but the capital inside the gates is larger,” Kageyama explained, briefly looking at the human.

“Do you-“ he started but was interrupted when Kageyama raised his head, ears turning.

“Horses are coming this way,” he stated. Shoyo stared at the road ahead but couldn’t see anything yet. He glanced at the road behind them but it was also empty.

“Do you think its mountain people?” Shoyo asked, glancing at the forest to their side. His clothes were finally dry and he really didn’t feel like jumping down into the bog on either side.

“I think it’s a carriage, maybe soldiers from the capital. I can hear metal,” Kageyama explained, nodding towards the road in front of them. Shoyo continued walking in the same pace, nodding for Kageyama to follow. Soon enough two soldiers on horses arrived behind the trees where the road turned. Afterwards followed a carriage and then four other riders. Eight horses in total.

Shoyo tightened his hold on his back pack, walking to the right side of the road to let them pass, Kageyama silently falling into step behind him again. The soldiers up front didn’t make any indication they cared about Shoyo and the vren but their faces were hidden in the helmets so Shoyo didn’t know for sure. The coachman however turned around, speaking to whoever sat in the silver-painted carriage through the small window, light blue curtains covering the hole.

Even Shoyo could hear the command of “Men, halt!” when they got closer, glancing at Kageyama behind him. Soon Shoyo had reached where the horses and carriage had stopped, the soldiers still not looking anywhere but forwards. The carriage door opened and out stepped a man wearing clothes even Shoyo could recognize. He was a royal of some sort, his black hair neatly cut short and his eyes trained on Shoyo. Or rather, behind Shoyo, on Kageyama.

“Greetings, traveler,” he called, jumping down from the door in swift motion. Shoyo inspected his clothes, pure white pants, tall black boots and a white jacket with golden buttons. Around his shoulder lied a mantle of light blue, a gold chain keeping it in place. One of his hands, both hidden under white gloves, was gripping the long, grand-looking sword on his hip.

“Greetings,” Shoyo stiffly spoke, imagining Kageyama laughing behind him.

“Are you headed for Miyagi?” The man asked, Shoyo looking up to glance inside the carriage. He could only see the legs of whoever sat on the couch in there, his clothes similar to this man’s.

“I am,” Shoyo replied.

“Are you perhaps a transporter of the vren?” he continued to prod. His grip on the sword was probably just his polite stance, but it made Shoyo feel on edge. He quickly turned the question over in his head. Would it be best to lie? But he was still young, and with how short he looked he couldn’t lie about his age either; he wasn’t close to looking like a transporter. Added to his age and height, his clothes were no fancy ones either.

“No, I own him,” Shoyo said, putting a bit of authority in his voice. He could see the man narrowing his eyes at the words. The he stepped to the side, Shoyo bracing himself before realizing the man was pulling on a hatch that extended a set of stairs from the carriage.

“Lord Oikawa of Toyama and Nigata,” he presented and Shoyo watched in confusion as the man held the door open, wearing a concentrated face as the man inside emerged. The boots stepping outside in the sunlight were similar to the other’s but in brown leather instead. His mantle was thicker and covered both his shoulders, white fur at the top where it fell around his neck. Everything about him made Shoyo feel dirty and exposed. His head was slightly tilted upwards, looking down at Shoyo, brown hair looking shiny and recently cleaned. Definitely compared to Shoyo’s bird nest where he probably had a twig or two stuck since sleeping on the ground.

“What’s your name?” the man asked, his voice soft but with a hinge of patronization. Of royalty. He was called Lord by the other but it could be anything from a king, a rich landowner to some other royalty.

“Hinata Shoyo,” he stated, stopping himself from adding ‘from Yukigaoka’. Word had probably spread by now what had happened at his village.

“Hinata, eh? Let me ask you, Hinata, where are you heading?” he asked, still not using the stairs to walk down to the same height as the two.

“To Miyagi,” Shoyo stated, his heart picking up pace in his chest. He just wanted to continue, not get stopped this early on.

“Miyagi huh,” Oikawa mulled, like he was trying to remember where the city was located.

“What business do you have in the capital?” he continued and Shoyo wanted to sigh or grunt. Did he really have to answer all these question? Or was he just being tricked into it because he didn’t know the rules for these things. If he could’ve only asked Kageyama beforehand.

“My sister lives there, I’m visiting,” he replied, hoping it would convince the lord enough.

“I understand. Well, it’s getting dark outside and cold from the night. We were planning on stopping somewhere to eat and rest for the night. I would love for you to join us,” he smiled.

“Oh, no that’s fine-“ Shoyo started, holding out his hands to decline.

“I insist, Hinata,” Oikawa said with a slightly deeper voice.

“Prepare the tents and a fire, we’re setting up camp here for the night,” the black-haired man yelled, turning towards the driver and other riding soldiers. He put the stairs back in place and closed the door, signaling for the coachman to drive onto the small field of grass, surrounded by rosehip bushes.

“Iwaizumi, let Mad Dog out for a bit,” Oikawa said before stepping back as the horses started pulling the cart forwards over the uneven ground.

When the carriage turned around Shoyo’s eyes widened at the cage that was fastened at the back. Inside was a vren, a thick chain holding its collar to the floor yet the creature was standing up, crouching. It looked at Shoyo and Kageyama, surprise evident in its eyes. The fur was a blonde, maybe even a yellow color and contrasted to the black paws, ears and around the eyes. Shoyo glanced at Kageyama, watchin Oikawa and the other man called Iwaizumi follow.

Kageyama didn’t say anything but his eyes did; ‘be on your guard’.

Surprisingly, Oikawa and neither of his men seemed to pay much attention to Shoyo. He was waved over by Iwaizumi and gestured to sit down on the elk skin someone had placed on the ground. A campfire was started and one of the soldiers brought out the remains of a boar, hanging the meat over the fire. Shoyo couldn’t help but eye the food right in front of his eyes, hunger probably evident in his eyes.

His eyes caught sight of something moving to the right and he turned his head to stare eye to eye with the vren earlier caged.

“He doesn’t scare you, does he?” Oikawa asked, sitting down on a thick bear skin Iwaizumi laid down for him.

“No,” Shoyo lied. He had to act like he wasn’t afraid of vrens, considering he owned one. While Mad Dog looked intimidating, Shoyo realized he was smaller than Kageyama who sat behind Shoyo, not even eyeing the other vren. Shoyo somehow felt a flash of pride, both because Kageyama was larger and also because the black vren didn’t even consider the other one, seeming uninterested.

“Mad Dog is a part of our kingdom’s vren collection. He is still young but a promising solider already. We’re breeding half Royals since we only have a Royal female, “Oikawa said, folding his fingers and leaning his chin on top. “Can I ask how you obtained a Royal vren?”

Shoyo stared at him, his heart skipping a beat.

Royal vrens.

He had heard about them, but it wasn’t from a book at school. There was something special about the Royal vrens.

“I…” he hesitated. He knew this question would arise and Shoyo had already planned a lie to explain his sister worked at a breeding farm in Miyagi. But that Kageyama was a Royal vren? Now he understood the suspicion.

“I inherited him after my father,” Shoyo said instead but could see on Oikawa’s face how the lie fell flat.

“After your father? Are your family relatives of the king?” Oikawa continued to prod, almost taunting him.

“No,” Shoyo simply decided to answer. He wondered is he should’ve tried to go for his father being in the royal army but he was still a bit stumped at the fact that Kageyama was a Royal vren. They were extremely rare, but it would explain the size. They were much bigger in size.

The dark forest around him suddenly felt threatening, he became more aware of the swords the soldiers were all carrying. Oikawa’s First Hand, as he assumed Iwaizumi was, had the long sword and what looked like a satchel of poison darts on him. Shoyo recognized them because of the red fox-fur the arrows were graced with. There was an old man in Yukigaoka who made the darts and sold them to bigger cities.

“Do you perhaps use him for security for traveling, or are you transporting something important?” Oikawa asked, nodding towards Shoyo’s backpack.

“Nothing more than my mere legs,” Shoyo replied. Oikawa narrowed his eyes slightly but was interrupted when one of the soldiers walked up to them with a gold-coated jug.

“Some wine, my prince?” he asked, bowing his head. His clothes were much simpler than Iwaizumi’s but still similar in color. All the soldiers, apart from the coachman, Iwaizumi and Oikawa, wore red gloves. All had removed their metal armor but two who stood guard, positioned on either side of the road.

“Perhaps our traveler would like some, Kindaichi? Bring another cup,” Oikawa ordered while the solider poured his glass. He nodded and disappeared, ignoring Shoyo’s ‘no thank you’. Another glass was filled and the solider handed it to Shoyo who awkwardly accepted it. Oikawa looked like he was waiting for him to drink so Shoyo took a small sip, the bitter taste running down his throat. At least he didn’t cough like the first time he tried alcohol. He had to admit though, the red wine was much more pleasant than the strong, clear stuff his grandpa used to drink.

“So, you had family in Miyagi?” Oikawa asked after another minute of silence. Shoyo didn’t know if he was supposed to ask questions back to the prince so instead he figured to stay silent.

“Yes, my sister is getting married,” he lied, taking another sip on the wine. He would rather have a bite of the boar than the stupid drink.

“Ah, you must send my regards.”

“I will.”

After a while the other soldiers sat down around the fire, apart from two who still stood guard, and one took down the boar to cut it in appropriate pieces. Shoyo could almost feel his mouth water at the sight. Oikawa was served first, naturally, but insisted Shoyo should have a plate after him. It felt sort of ridiculous when the same solider as before served him a piece of meat on the fancy-looking silver platters. The grease from the meat was running down into the engravings or patterns and symbols.

He had manners enough to wait until Oikawa started eating, following along and nearly choking on the meat as hungry he was.

“Set up my tent,” Oikawa told two soldiers when they had finished eating, gesturing with his hand towards the carriage. The vren, Mad Dog, was still lying a couple metres behind the prince, watching them finish up the remains of the boar. Shoyo wished he could give the remains of the animal to Kageyama but realized that would seem odd. Instead one solider, who had presented himself as Shigeru Yahaba, explained he was the caretaker of the vren. He asked if Shoyo wanted to feed his vren kibble, Shoyo saying yes before it would be suspicious. Even though he had no idea what kibble was. He quickly glanced at Kageyama behind him, receiving the usual blank look. Shigeru brought out a big sack and poured into two bowls.

“Mad Dog, eat” he called, putting the bowl down onto the ground. The other he handed to Shoyo who tried to discreetly sniff the stuff before turning and placing it in front of Kageyama, nodding for him to eat.

“So, how much do you want for your vren?”

Shoyo turned around, coughing on the air, “I’m sorry?” he asked, holding a hand against his throat. Oikawa only leered.

“How much do you want for him? I’ve got gold, silver, land, slaves, say whatever,” he offered.

“Oh, he’s not for sale, sorry,” Shoyo quickly explained. After the words left his mouth he could sense a change in atmosphere. Some soldiers glanced at him, Iwaizumi narrowed his eyes where he was looking into the fire.

“Oh?” Oikawa replied, a smile still on his face, “but you look like you could use the money,” Oikawa continued.

“I…” he started but silenced, pretending to think it over.

If he’d been carrying something else valuable he would’ve probably been dead by now. Shoyo didn’t know the manners of sword-handling but he was positive people didn’t carry it around friends. And all soldiers around him were still fully armed. But because Kageyama was sworn to him they knew he would sacrifice his life to save Shoyo, which was the danger. But then again, they could be thinking he had made that up too, and that he was only transporting the vren. Whatever they thought, the situation was very odd, which Shoyo knew. With the recently learned fact that Kageyama was a Royal vren, a 17-year old in poor clothes walking along with one didn’t make much sense.

But if he completely declined Oikawa the offer he would be in danger. Because these people, especially that Shigeru, knew how to handle vrens. Not to mention they had one. Kageyama against seven soldiers, including Iwaizumi, and one vren, half royal at that. It wasn’t something Shoyo wanted to try.

“How much gold do you have?” he asked, trying to sound a bit unconfident, which wasn’t difficult. Something seemed to change in the prince’s eyes, either he fell for the lie or he saw right through it. Shoyo couldn’t tell.

The fire was still going when most men moved to sleep. Shoyo insisted, many times, that he didn’t need a tent to sleep in. He accepted an elk skin to roll into and stayed by the fire where he stayed warm. He could hear muffled speaking in one of the tents but not enough to make out the words. The other vren, Mad Dog was back in his cage and two soldiers were still guarding the road. There was one guard sitting by the fire, gently polishing the armour of helmets, shoulder and chest pieces. He never looked up at Shoyo but he knew the other had his attention on him.

Shoyo waited a few hours, he was too nervous to fall asleep either way, before slowly opening his eyes to peek at the solider sitting watch by the fire. He looked tired, his hands having stilled over the rug he was holding. Carefully, as to not startle him Shoyo sat up, forging a yawn. The man looked up and Shoyo nodded at him.

“I’m gonna go for a piss,” he explained, standing up and wandering over to the forest edge. Shoyo actually had to go but when he finished he tilted his head to glance at the guard at the fire. He looked like he was nodding off again already.

With silent steps Shoyo instead sneaked up to the tent, focusing to hear what was being discussed inside. If anything, they could be talking about him.

“-back isn’t optional, you idiot,” a low voice huffed.

“Iwa-chan, we need to check. What if one arrived?” That was definitely Oikawa.

“Does it matter? You saw the slaves and that was it. If they had a vren or two they would be gone by now anyway.”

Shoyo widened his eyes. Where they perhaps talking about Miyagi? Didn’t Oikawa say they travelled from there?

“Iwa-chan,” Oikawa’s voice came, slightly grumpy. It went silent inside and Shoyo raised an eyebrows as he thought he heard the prince suddenly chuckle.

He took a deep breath before slowly walking back over to the fire, his heart was beating wildly in his chest. He heard the sound of chains and glanced up at the vren in the cage, its eyes wide open and staring straight at him.

Oh no.

It could feel Shoyo’s intensions.

Shoyo tried to be casual as he picked up his backpack but the way his eyes were widened and watching the guard probably put the other off.

“Hey,” he called, frowning.

And Shoyo ran, shrugging into his backpack as he spurted for the road, Kageyama instantly beside him.

“Hey!” he heard the man yell, now louder and both guards by the road turned around, confusion evident on their faces. Shoyo then heard a loud, growling bark behind him, turning to look at Kageyama in confusion only to realize it was Oikawa’s vren. Shoyo eyed Kageyama, both headed on the road continuing to Miyagi, where one of the guards now took a stance with his sword.

“Run,” Shoyo breathed before taking a last sprint, grabbing for the scruff on Kageyama’s neck and successfully latching on, his legs clutching down on either side on his back, as he held on for dear life, watching the road pass around his eyes. Shoyo could still hear yelling and shouting behind but he closed his eyes, hiding his face against the vren’s thick fur. The wind was moving fast around them as Kageyama ran, his speed unimaginable to the human. His legs were slipping and he was afraid to fall off to the side any second, but somehow he didn’t.

Kageyama’s breaths were even, the human focusing on the steps of his feet.

“There’s a horse following,” Kageyama informed him and Shoyo tried glancing behind them only to lose balance for a second, turning back and tightening his legs around the vren.

“The forest,” he said, squeezing his eyes shut again, feeling his fingers tighten on his neck.

They got away, speeding past trees and rocks. Kageyama didn’t stop running until Shoyo asked him to stop.

***-***-***

“Are you okay?” Shoyo asked for the hundredth time, rubbing his wrists where he sat on the leaf-covered floor. The cave they found was small but since Shoyo convinced Kageyama that sharing heat during nights was life-saving, the vren agreed. The red-head was currently sat leaning against Kageyama’s side, stealing the warmth he got.

“Yes I am, stop asking,” Kageyama grunted and Shoyo pouted.

The vren had carried him for a long distance and while he surely was strong he would have gotten tired after so many hours of running. His back nor his feet were made to carry anyone and Shoyo was positive an ordinary vren wouldn’t be able to. Kageyama just happened to be a large kind; a Royal vren.

“Why did you never tell me?” Shoyo asked, keeping his voice silent in case Oikawa’s fellowship somehow followed them. He knew Kageyama was on the watch, he could feel how he was still a bit tense, occasionally sniffing, ears constantly pointed forwards.

Shoyo had tried to scratch behind them a couple minutes ago only to get a growling vren under his hand. Kageyama didn’t bite him or tell him to stop, but he was clearly uncomfortable about it. Shoyo retorted his hand, reminding himself the vren wasn’t a dog. He just looked so sad.

“About what?” Kageyama asked but his question was a little delayed so Shoyo knew he was aware what he was asking.

“You being a Royal vren,” Shoyo said, staring out the opening on the cage. It was still early morning and the weather was quite horrible. The rain was beating down and Shoyo wondered if they would have to stay huddled inside longer.

“I didn’t think it was something I had to tell you. Most people know,” Kageyama explained.

“Well,” Shoyo huffed, crossing his arms, “you know I’m not very educated about vrens and stuff. I-I’m from a small town, I’ve only seen two vrens before you,” the human admitted. Shoyo had wanted to keep up a mature façade in front of the vren, especially since he considered Shoyo to be a child at first glance. Which really, he kind of was.

Kageyama didn’t say anything and Shoyo couldn’t come up with anything to talk about, so he took out his jacket, draped it across himself before turning towards the vren’s side to sleep.

***-***-***

“Shit,” Shoyo cursed, staring at the road ahead. It wasn’t like he originally had a map; he only followed the directions to the capital. The town they stood in front of had a sign that read Chidoriyama.

While he had lived in a smaller town his entire life and not learnt much about what was going on around them, Shoyo knew about Chidoriyama.

“We could take a break here, rent a hotel. In case the prince is following us this would be a good hiding spot,” Kageyama said behind him. Shoyo turned to look at him, scratching his forehead.

“Have you been here before?”

“No, but I’ve heard of it,” the vren replied, gazing in through the open, metal gates in front of them. Shoyo absently nodded but couldn’t help but to feel uneasy as he entered, Kageyama straight behind his steps.

“Could you… hide? I’ll get a room and maybe you can climb up from the window?” Shoyo asked, already having a farmer stop and stare at them both, his eyes looking like they would bulge out of his head.

“Yes,” he heard Kageyama whisper and when he gazed behind him there was no one there.

Shoyo found himself eyeing the old farmer before continuing down the road, gravel turning into flat stones. The buildings were mostly made of stone as well, black smoke coming from a big house in the middle. The people looked hard-working, carrying wood and metal tools. Shoyo heard the sound of hooves behind him, freezing up to turn around only to realize it was a simple horse with a wagon, several rocks loaded behind the driver.

“Out of the way,” the man yelled, throwing with his arm and Shoyo backed away, turning around to look at the back-alley he found himself in. There was a young girl scraping something off the ground, occasionally glancing up at him between her hairs.

He continued out onto the bigger road again, finding a building next to a pub that read “hostel”. It didn’t exactly look inviting from the outside but Shoyo hastily cleaned his shoes on the rug and stepped inside. To his surprise he found himself at the bar instead.

“Hello there,” a bearded man behind the counter yelled, clearly looking up and down the boy’s attire. From what Shoyo had seen the town’s people wearing, his clothes were definitely not worse. Maybe even a little better.

“What do you want, then?” the man continued, leaning over the counter.

“Uh, hi. Is the hostel next door?” he asked, already putting a hand on the door leading outside again. The man chuckled and punched his hand against a wooden pole reaching from the floor to the roof. On it sat a scroll where someone had written the rates of the rooms. There were only two kind. Basement, which meant sleeping with several other men, and the above option was a room with a bed. As simple as that.

Shoyo felt himself gulp at the price. It would cost him all the money he had with him. He glanced at the bearded man who rose an eyebrow at him, looking back at the scroll, pretending to think about the options.

“If you can’t afford it, leave,” the man snapped. Shoyo found himself gripping his belt a bit tighter, his little money pouch sitting right at the front. He absently heard the door open behind him and stepped to the side to let the other pass by.

“Shoyo, did you pay already?” a deep voice asked and the human’s breath hitched. He slowly turned around to stare into a grown man’s face, black hair falling flat against his face and his eyes somehow very familiar.

“…I will take that as a no,” the man continued and walked around him to the counter, throwing a bag onto the surface. Shoyo could hear the rumbling of coins as the sack hit the wood.

“Do you have a room free for tonight? Preferably with a window,” the man asked, towering slightly taller than the bearded man.

“I will show you right to it, sir,” the man behind the bar said, counting the money in the bag before grabbing a key behind him, gesturing for both to follow.

“Yuu! Take the counter!” he yelled, his voice booming, and walked towards the left, expecting the man to follow. Instead the black-haired man turned around, took a grip of Shoyo’s hand and dragged him with.

“Wha-,” Shoyo hissed and as fast as a bullet the man turned around, boring his eyes into Shoyo’s.

“Shut up, I’ll tell you later,” he hissed before straightening up and dragging the still confused Shoyo up the stairs. The steps felt taller and taller the further they walked and Shoyo kept his eyes on the man’s back. The voice was familiar, and so was the eyes, but who he connected it to be, was physically impossible.

The man’s hold was strong, his hand slightly too warm and Shoyo closed his mouth when he realized it was hanging open, gulping.

“Here’s your room,” the bearded man said when they reached the top, unlocking the room with the large, metal key. Shoyo stared as the black-haired man took it, releasing Shoyo’s wrist.

“I don’t care what you do with the kid, just don’t be too loud. I want you gone by 9:00 tomorrow,” he said, not even glancing at Shoyo before he left. He could hear the steps as he disappeared down the stairs, his breathing a little ragged.

Shoyo could hear his heart beat in his ears, his eyes carefully glancing up at the other. The man was staring straight at him, holding the key in his hand.

“Come on,” he said and entered the room. Shoyo stayed in the hallway, clenching his fists and taking a look back towards the stairs. He should run out, as fast as he could, and yell for Kageyama. If he screamed the vren would surely come, even if Shoyo asked him to hide. He was in a seriously dangerous situation; he would definitely come.

Shoyo took a deep breath, slowly backing away from the slightly ajar door.

“Kage-“ he started, his voice shaking as he prepared to yell even louder.

“I’m here, now shut up. You’re gonna get us thrown out,” the man appeared in the doorway, opening the wooden door further.

“I- what?” Shoyo asked, staring at the other with widening eyes.

“Inside,” the man hissed, looking close to exploding by now. Shoyo had expected to get hit, maybe grabbed again, not to receive a hundred questions.

He glanced inside the room, seeing the light come from a window. Kageyama would most likely be searching for him now, and they planned he would come through a window. So if he opened it and called, he would be saved.

With careful steps he entered the room, turning to see the man shut the door.

The he locked it.

Shit.

Without saying anything he walked over to the window as well, closing the curtains. It was still sunny outside and the room was fully visible for the red-head who backed against a wall, feeling his backpack hit the stone.

The man stood by the bed and started to… unbutton his shirt.

“I’m- please, let me go,” Shoyo started to panic, looking back and forth between the man and the window, wondering if he could run there in time.

An uncomfortable feeling crawled up his spine as he watched the man throw his shirt off, reaching for his pants.

“Kageyama!” Shoyo tried, not daring to run for the window. Instead he had fished out the knife fastened to his belt, grabbing it with two hands and slowly raising it towards the man.

“I’m here, shut up. Just give me a second,” the man snarled, pushing the pants down and Shoyo looked away in fear, focusing on the floor in front of him. He kept the knife up, his hands starting to sweat. The key was lying on the bed, together with the clothes the man threw off. Shoyo carefully and slowly started to make his way towards it, watching the man throw off his shoes in frustration before he finished, standing up and turning to Shoyo with the eyes of a predator.

Shoyo’s breath caught in his throat and he stared in fear as the other focused his eyes on him, still in his fully naked glory.

And then he bent down, his skin starting to rip apart.

It was disgusting, stomach-turning but Shoyo couldn’t keep his eyes away. He watched the man grunt as he threw his arm out, grabbing onto the bedframe with one hand, black fur tearing the skin into pieces, turning it inside out.

And left, a second later, stood Kageyama on all fours on the floor, claws stretching and shoulders rolling.

“I did not mean to scare you, I apologize,” was the first thing he said. Shoyo only the realized he wasn’t breathing, his head felt incredibly light and before he could predict it he was falling backwards.

***-***-***

When he woke up he gasped for air, throwing his arms out to protect his mouth as he greedily breathed. He sat up, head slightly spinning, and snapped his eyes around the room.

There was no light source wherever he was and Shoyo could hear his erratic breathing turning faster and faster as he tried to make anything out in the darkness. His head still hurt, his vision feeling blurry even though he couldn’t see anything.

“Shoyo, calm down,” a voice spoke beside him and he quickly scrambled away from it, his hand suddenly not touching the sheets anymore and in a second he was falling backwards. Instead of a hard floor as he expected, he instead fell against something kind of soft, hearing a low grunt under him.

“It’s me,” the creature said and Shoyo stared into the darkness above him, his hands feeling the fur behind him.

Kageyama.

He must have run around the bed in less than a second when Shoyo fell from it.

“Where are we?” Shoyo breathed and scrambled up onto the bed. He awkwardly turned to where he thought Kageyama was sitting but since the room was completely dark he wasn’t sure. And he knew the vren could see in darkness, so he probably looked really silly.

“In the hostel. You fainted earlier,” Kageyama explained and Shoyo nodded, reaching out a hand towards the voice, his hand caching onto the fur. He slid towards the edge of the bed, both hands grabbing onto the hairs, Shoyo leaning his head against Kageyama’s neck, hiding his eyes.

It took him a couple seconds to calm down, and while he did he thought back to what happened earlier. Kageyama had looked like a human, with black hair and blue eyes. Shoyo had never, ever heard of vrens who could do such things.

“What are you?” he whispered against him.

“A vren.”

“Why did you look human?” Shoyo asked, his voice still shaking.

“Royal vrens can take on the form of humans,” came the reply and Shoyo slowly nodded. Because what could he do? Not believe him? He had seen it with his own eyes, the man walking in front of him, talking, moving like any humans. And he had seen the awful, grotesque transformation between two creatures.

“I apologize for frightening you earlier, I did not understand why you were scared at first, even if you did not understand it was me. I figured the only way to make you realize it was me was to turn back,” Kageyama explained, his accent evident when he spoke longer sentences like this. Shoyo continued to nod against him.

He was still shivering with the darkness around him. He knew he had seen an oil lamp on the table in the corner when they entered the room, but starting the fire would take time. Shoyo couldn’t see and he wasn’t sure Kageyama could do it with his claws.

Except he could turn human.

Shoyo leaned back to sit on the bed again. He dried his tears in embarrassment, silently apologizing for crying against the other.

With his hands tapping things in front of him he found the pillow and carefully lied down in silence, reached for the sheets under him. They smelled awfully lot like urine and alcohol and with a frown Shoyo threw them onto the floor. The air was cold around him and he wondered where his backpack was. Probably somewhere on the floor.

“T-the bed is big…” he started, feeling with his hands around him, not reaching either edge. He moved forwards until he could feel one in front of him, pushing the last piece of the sheets off where they were caught.

“If you want to, you can get on to,” he continued, keeping his voice nearly a whisper. For a couple seconds nothing was heard and Shoyo slowly moved his arms around himself, moving his knees up towards his chest.

He could feel the dip of the bed and couldn’t help the relieved sigh as he pushed himself backwards to feel his back press against the warm body.

When the room fell silent Shoyo could hear the sounds of the bar underneath. People were laughing and some yelling. Sometimes there was a loud boom, as if someone fell and one time he could hear a single horse with a carriage passing outside.

“Can you do it whenever you want to?” Shoyo asked into the silence, wiggling further into Kageyama behind him. He could feel something light but big falling over his legs, Shoyo smiling in the darkness. He wanted to reach down and pet the tail but knew it would annoy the other. He learned from his mistakes.

“Yes, but it takes a lot of energy. And the transformation is very uncomfortable,” Kageyama replied, his deep voice just above Shoyo’s head.

“Does most people know about it?” the human continued, feeling himself fall deeper into comfort.

“No. Those who have owned or owns a Royal does, some trainers do as well. Most people think it’s a rumour or a tall tale.”

“Ah,” he replied, having closed his eyes as he figured there was no reason to keep them open, “are there many of you left?” Shoyo asked. He had asked this before and not gotten a reply.

“No,” was the simple answer. The red-head slowly nodded and left it at that. The sleep was pulling him downwards and Shoyo took a deep breath before falling into slumber.


	3. Izumitate

The town of Izumitate was up next.

Shoyo looked up at the boar’s skull attached to a pole. It was Kageyama who had told him the town’s name. He had been here before, apparently.

As a cold gust of air passed them, Shoyo’s hair dancing in the wind, the human could pick up a strong smell he recognized. Frowning and scrunching up his nose he tried to place the burning scent.

“What’s the smell?” he asked Kageyama behind him, staring at the first house a couple minutes ahead of them. There were still no people around.

“Dog biscuits,” the vren replied, Shoyo hearing himself go “ahh,” in reply. It was a plant, a sort of bush with small, white flowers growing from thick stems. They usually grew in drier places but Shoyo knew what their main function was; numbing someone hurt. Anyone smoking the flower without being injured did it for the high. He had never tried it for himself, it smelled kind of gross, but he knew the older boys back in his village often bragged about it. They always had flaming, red spots on their necks afterwards. Apparently the human was naturally allergic to it.

Shoyo cleared his head and sighed, turning to the vren. “You said you’ve been here before. Are there some discreet places we can sleep or something? I need to buy some more food.”

“There are camps and rooms for rent, Izumitate gets many visitors,” Kageyama replied. Shoyo briefly looked at the rapeseed field behind the vren, the flowers a bright, yellow colour spreading all the way to the trees of another thick forest.

“Oh? The town looks small from here,” Shoyo replied, looking back at the house and the few others behind it.

“It is, but it holds one of the most popular fighting arenas, apart from the one in the Capital.”

Shoyo frowned, “Fighting arenas?”

Kageyama seemed to regard him for a moment, his eyes ase intimidating as ever. Shoyo watched one of his ears twitch; maybe it picked up a noise from somewhere.

“For vrens,” he replied. Shoyo’s eyebrows raised slowly.

Yet he didn’t ask him for further information. The idea wasn’t something that sounded pleasant to Shoyo. He knew there were dog fights and cock fights, even the tales of bears had reached his ears. And maybe, before he knew Kageyama, he would’ve been excited about the sound of watching vrens fight. Shoyo was glad he was more educated now. Maybe it really was because Kageyama was a Royal vren, or maybe they were all this intelligent and aware. They weren’t just mindless animals, they were more alike… people. They just looked kind of different.

Shoyo shook his head at his own thoughts.

“So there’s going to be other vrens there?” he asked, walking towards the town again.

“Yes,” Kageyama replied, then continued after a moment; “I do not need to turn human unless you want me to.”

“Okay,” Shoyo whispered, picking up his speed a little bit. He was looking forwards to a bed to sleep in and some food. Maybe he could get a real, cooked meal for once?

After the shock of Kageyama’s newly discovered ability, Shoyo had suddenly realized to ask the vren how he got the money for the hotel. Kageyama had been bowing his head to the forest floor, apologizing deeply while Shoyo stood there like a question mark. He then heard the explanation, that Kageyama had stolen it. Shoyo was a little worried to ask from who, but he did anyway, he needed to know. The he laughed out loudly as he learned it was the hotel owner himself.

He knew vrens were skillful spies and thieves, even assassins, but it was still hard to imagine Kageyama being discreet, looking like a massive black wolf.

Yet, even as he laughed the uneasy feeling was still lingering in his chest. Kageyama had acted without Shoyo’s orders. The human knew he was kind of defiant, but always complied to Shoyo’s orders in the end. Yet, from what he recalled of learning about vrens they only followed orders and never did anything without being told.

Was Kageyama underestimating Shoyo? Absolutely. He was tiny in comparison, probably wouldn’t last more than a second in a fight. Then again, Kageyama obviously would be stronger than any of his previous owners, the outcome of a fight between a human against a vren was always easy to predict. Even if the human had weapons, even if the vren was injured, it wasn’t much of thing to discuss.

So as Shoyo glanced at the vren by his side he bit his lip, distractedly. He was still uneducated about vrens but it had been bothering him since yesterday.

“So,” he started, trying to sound casual, “what’s the most common differences between various breeds of vrens?” he asked, hands in his pockets.

Kageyama momentarily looked down at him by his side, wearing a questioning look.

“It would be nice to know a bit more,” Shoyo replied, his heart speeding up a little. He didn’t actually have to explain himself for asking, did he? The vren was supposed to listen to him and reply if Shoyo asked something, right? Maybe…

Maybe Shoyo was being too nice?

But he didn’t want to be harsh and strict towards Kageyama. Shoyo would never admit it out loud but he was still, probably, perhaps, maybe, a tiny, little bit scared of him.

“There are many different kinds,” Kageyama then said, Shoyo not being able to suppress a groan.

“Then tell me briefly about them,” Shoyo said, trying to sound a bit more stern, like it was a command. Kageyama didn’t even look at him this time, but at least he replied;

“There is the Grey, which is the most common. The Arctic is the largest of the regular vren and the African Hunchback the smallest. The Eastern Brown is not the smartest but the fastest,” Kageyama explained, snorting in distaste, “There are many cross breeds today,” he said, Shoyo waiting for more.

Again, he hadn’t kept much attention in school but he had a vague memory of his book counting many more breeds as the most common ones, at least over 20.

“And the vren you are?” Shoyo asked, glancing as he saw a man in ragged clothing come towards them.

“You know how I am,” Kageyama simply replied and Shoyo pressed his lips together. He watched the old man pass them, his tired eyes only glancing at Kageyama. Not a stranger to vrens then, so it was probably true; that this was a town used to seeing the creature.

“Well, I’m asking you because I want to know, so tell me,” Shoyo snapped. He could tell Kageyama was looking at him but he kept his eyes forwards, staring at another pole with a boar’s skull on it, right by the first building. It was made of wood, a lot of green growing up the wall.

“My apologies,” Kageyama started, voice lowered. The words surprised Shoyo so much his expression of frustration fell and the human turned to look at the vren. “I do not know how many Royal vrens there are left, many get killed by their owners. We are larger in size-”

“Wait, hold on,” Shoyou stopped him, frowning, “why would someone kill…?” he asked, stumped for words. Kageyama looked Shoyo straight in the eyes as he replied, as the answer was obvious.

“For the glory of killing a vren. It happens with all breeds of vrens; the owner will pride himself of having killed a vren on his own.”

Shoyo stared at him, absently looking at two boys running inside the house; they were getting closer. This was a conversation Shoyo wanted cleared up before they entered the town, however, and he stopped in his tracks yet again.

“But… aren’t you much stronger?” he asked, gulping. Kageyama met his eyes.

“Yes, of course,” he said, voice as strong as usual, “but it is the owner. We can not hurt them.”

The wind chimed around them again, a red, faded cloth that hung around the boar’s skull rustled in the wind, the branches of a large tree above them croaking. The thought of Kageyama said… it made Shoyo feel sick.

“Y-you can’t do anything, because of the vow, and they just…? But, that’s… that’s horrible!” he exclaimed, not really caring if he sounded like a kid. That _was_ horrible.

Kageyama didn’t reply, simply looked at him. The sun had gone behind clouds above them and whenever it got darker it was always hard to see the vren’s features. His eyes always shone bright but Shoyo could only guess what he was thinking.

“I’m sorry, humans truly are assholes,” Shoyo concluded. Again, the vren didn’t say anything but followed when Shoyo started walking again.

Just like the old man from before not many people seemed to mind Kageyama. Many stared, sure, but that was to be expected from his size. And true to Kageyama’s words Shoyo soon spotted more vrens walking around with owners. Most of them wore collars and chains, Shoyo soon realizing _all_ did. He glanced at Kageyama behind him.

A buff man had bored his eyes into Shoyo’s when they passed onto what had to be one of the main streets; it was busy and vendors were selling vegetables, fruits and meat around the place. The smell of some sort of stew had Shoyo’s mouth watering but he soon forgot about food when the buff man started walking towards them.

Shoyo tried not to cower when he stopped in front of them.

“That needs to be chained,” he said in a rough voice, pointing at Kageyama. He had the familiar red patches on his throat, as many seemed to have in the town. He was wearing dirty clothes but a shiny sword was on his hip, Shoyo being unable to _not_ stare at it.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize,” he replied, “Where can I buy… that?... sir.”

The man’s upper lip twitched and he huffed, the nodded a head to the right. “I’ll give you a beating if I see you without a chain again,” he said, then turned to walk back, presumably to his spot where he had been leaning against the wall earlier. “Fucking amateurs,” Shoyo heard him spit under his breath.

“How pleasant,” Shoyo mumbled before heading the way the man had pointed. He wasn’t really sure what to look for but soon saw a table displaying many chains, collars, leather ropes and… what looked like torture devices. He stared at the things on the table, avoiding the larger, left side that seemed to only contain different spiked collars. The spikes, of course, were only on the inside of the collars.

There were no price tags so Shoyo eventually had to ask the vendor - who did not look like a nice person. It was a middle-aged woman with big arms, wearing what looked like leather armour. Her naked arms and face was covered in spots of soot; probably a blacksmith then. Maybe she made the collars herself.

“What yer lookin’ for then?” she asked, making a gross sound before spitting on the ground. Shoyo coughed, looking down at the ropes and chains.

“Which is the cheapest?” he asked, not wanting to spend too much money on something he would just need for the day. He had no plans to have Kageyama in chains any longer than he needed to. On a second thought he really didn’t get why the chains were needed. Maybe just to show which vren belonged to which person? There were a lot of vrens in the town after all. Because it wasn’t like Shoyo would be able to hold back Kageyama like someone might hold back a dog. He almost laughed at the picture in his head.

“Sisal rope. For that?” she asked, nodding towards Kageyama. Shoyo nodded.

“Do yer want a long leash ‘r short? Or double handle?” she continued, leaning over with a loud sigh, like it was a hassle to bend down. She lifted up a large basket, one made by the rope itself it seemed like.

“Uh, normal. And no double, please,” Shoyo replied, unsure what double meant other than extra money.

“I reckon it’ about 180, 190 around. it’ a big Royal one,” she said, looking at Kageyama, rolling the R of Royal. She closed one eye and tilted her head, her finger gesturing in front of her, probably measuring Kageyama. “It’ not stolen, is ‘t?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at Shoyo. The orange-haired immediately straightened up.

“No, of course not! I in-inherited him,” he said quickly, almost standing on his toes. The woman started at him for a moment, an unimpressed expression on her rough face. Then she shrugged, dried her nose on the back of her arm and picked up one end of the rope.

“Do yer want ‘t tight or loose on it’ neck?”

“Loose,” Shoyo replied, “and the leash can be short too.”

The woman chuckled.

“Too short and yer ’ll be be holdin’ yer hand in the air. It’ a big one I said, yer need long to hold it,” she said and Shoyo wasn’t really sure what to say to that, and he was having a rough time understanding from her rough accent. She was probably right though, but it wasn’t like Shoyo knew how much her definition of “short rope” was.

“So 3 metres then. I’ll lead the loop. It’ll be about 6 bronze,” she said and turned towards the house behind her, walking inside. Shoyo had a feeling he was getting ripped off but it wasn’t like he could complain. He watched a skinny boy stand up from a stool he hadn’t seen before, walking over to stand by the table in the woman’s place. His hair looked similar to hers, even if his body was kind of the opposite. Maybe her son?

“What’re yer starin’ at, short-carrot?” he asked and Shoyo raised his eyebrows but before he could say something he felt a tug on his belt. He was slow in reacting but turned around in surprise, hearing a light voice grunting “Ouf!”

Staring down at a young boy, his face dirty and clothes ripped, Shoyo blinked. The boy was holding Shoyo’s knife and the sheath. The lower half of his body was covered by a large, black, clawed hand. Time finally caught up with Shoyo and he watched the kid, a pick-pocketer, struggle to get free. He wasn’t screaming so Kageyama wasn’t pressing hard.

Some people had moved around them, some having gone quiet.

“Let me go!” the boy then hissed, not too loudly to draw more attention to them. Shoyo, still a bit stumped, bent down at grabbed the sheathed knife. He had to wriggle it out of the kid’s hand and furious green eyes stared up at him. Then Shoyo heard the sound of a voice he recognized. The man from before, the guard or whatever he was;

“What’ going on over there?!” he barked, coming closer through the mass of people.

“Let him go,” Shoyo whispered to Kageyama who raised his paw, Shoyo watching the small kid scramble to his feet and disappear behind a vendor selling vegetables.

The buff guard appeared between some people, looking around and narrowing his eyes at Shoyo. He didn’t say anything however, probably realizing Shoyo was in the middle of buying a damn collar.

“Hagman, what’s this commotion?” the guard asked a man on his left.

“Just one of Leif’s damn orphans. Got caught though,” the man replied and Shoyo slowly turned back to the vendor table, the son now looking a bit shocked, staring at Kageyama. Maybe he hadn’t understood the vren was Shoyo’s, earlier when he called him a short-carrot. Shoyo couldn’t help but look a little smug. He only dared to turn his back to the guard because Kageyama was still behind him. Absently securing his knife to his belt again Shoyo made sure to tie the flap tight this time. He had used it this morning to carve up the rabbit Kageyama had caught.

A minute later the woman appeared in the doorway, completely oblivious of what had happened outside. Shoyo handed her the six bronze coins he had counted from his pouch, and looked at the rope. It was a simple loop with metal around the tie, the material wet around it. She must’ve dunked it in cold water after it was done then. Shoyo was still careful touching the metal, quickly tapping the back of a finger to feel that it wasn’t still scalding hot.

“Did yer want it hot?” the woman asked and Shoyo turned to her with a raised eyebrow.

“What?”

The woman didn’t reply but eyed Shoyo for a moment before going back to whatever chains she had been working on before Shoyo appeared. He frowned as he turned to Kageyama. Was the norm really to torture the vrens? Just for sick pleasure?

He shook his head, clearing it as he raised the loop, reaching towards Kageyama’s nuzzle. It was never his first choice to get any closer than he needed to the vren’s head. Shoyo had seen the sharp teeth in his mouth; he didn’t want anything to do with those, really. The vren’s ears flattened straight back against his head, probably so Shoyo could get the collar on easier but perhaps also in discomfort. Shoyo was glad Kageyama bent down a little, so the human didn’t have to tip-toe.

With a small sigh Shoyo grabbed the end of the leash now hanging from the loop, turning to continue where he had been headed before.

“We should get something to eat. Do you remember any cheap places?” he asked, licking his lips as he thought about stew or dumplings. The vendors on the main streets probably overpriced things.

Without replying Kageyama shook his head. Shoyo pouted, thinking. He noticed Kageyama had spoken even less since they stepped inside the city. He knew it wasn’t common to speak with a vren like it was your equal, so that would probably be the reason. Yet Shoyo already missed it. Kageyama wasn’t the best at holding conversations but it was still something.

He turned towards a random street and convinced himself not to take the first, best place that smelled good, but rather to find some simple place selling perhaps dried meat or something. Yes, he could be grown up about this.

It only took a minute, however, before Shoyo caught whiff of what had to be dumplings and he walked over, drooling, towards the stand. To be fair they weren’t too expensive and Shoyo could afford a real meal for once. He bought 10 for an okay price; they were large in size and even though he felt like he could eat them all he knew he would be full after three.

He led Kageyama towards a smaller street where he eventually dived into an alley. It smelled a bit of alcohol but there were no people around, so Shoyo sat on a barrel, picking up the first dumpling, taking a bite and moaning out loud.

“These are pretty close to the ones my mom make,” Shoyo said around the food, his legs wiggling in the air. Then he heard his own words and his legs stilled. Kageyama slowly sat down in front of him and Shoyo held out the small bowl of woven reed, nodding for Kageyama to talk a dumpling. The vren carefully picked up one with two claws, swallowing the dumpling after just chewing once or twice.

“Are you hungry?” Shoyo asked, tilting his head a bit. When Kageyama didn’t reply Shoyo raised his eyebrows. The vren then nodded and Shoyo started wiggling his legs again, smiling.

“You really don’t like listening to me, huh?” Shoyo carefully said after a moment, trying to absently regard the dumpling in his hand. It was orange on the inside so they were probably carrot-filled. Again, Kageyama didn’t reply and a small wrinkle appeared between Shoyo’s eyebrows. “I mean,” he elaborated, “whenever I ask you a question you don’t reply. Like, I get you don’t want to talk to me here, I’m noticing no other vren is doing it, but when we’re alone… it kind of bothers me,” Shoyo admitted, glancing at him.

“Forgive me,” Kageyama said but again, after a small pause he continued, sounding almost hesitant, “I have been taught not to speak, even when questioned.”

Wait, was that it? It wasn’t what Shoyo expected.

“Oh, really?” the human asked, holding out the bowl again for Kageyama. This time the vren didn’t move to take a dumpling. Shoyo shook the bowl a bit but the vren stayed still, looking at the food.

“Eat,” Shoyo said and only then did Kageyama carefully take another dumpling. He eyed the vren as he ate, slower this time.

Shoyo could only imagine what Kageyama had been put up to do. He hadn’t asked him yet because firstly, he wasn’t sure if the vren could tell him. Even if the previous owners were dead or no longer owned him, there could very much be a secrecy of some sort. And secondly, Shoyo wasn’t sure he wanted to know. All he was informed of was the few things Kageyama told him and the memory of finding him; the vren near death, tied to a tree with spikes dug into his neck.

And Shoyo had seen many, many more scars scattered across his large body, whenever he accidentally brushed aside fur.

After two and a half dumplings Shoyo was leaning back against the wall, holding his stomach. It hurt and he stared at the half-eaten dumpling in his hand with an internal battle in his head. He had convinced Kageyama of eating the rest in the bowl, the vren finishing them within seconds.

“Do you want it? I feel like I’ll be sick if I eat any more,” he said, holding it weakly towards Kageyama. The vren gently raised his hand, two sharp claws carefully picking the half-eaten dumpling from Shoyo’s grasp, without touching him.

“I feel like I could sleep here,” Shoyo mumbled and closed his eyes. Just as he said that, however, he heard a door open to his side. He suddenly stared eye to eye with a very pretty girl.

“Uh,” Shoyo got out, sitting a bit straighter and almost falling forwards, off the barrel in the move. The girl’s eyes quickly moved over to Kageyama however, her hands on the door tightening.

“S-sorry,” she whispered, holding onto the wood, looking ready to close the door any second, like it was her shield.

“It’s okay, he doesn’t bite,” Shoyo said, without thinking much, and chuckled embarrassedly at his own words. He didn’t have to even look at Kageyama to know that the vren was glaring at him.

The girl, however, just continued staring between the two, before speaking; “’m sorry but this is p-private land. Over to that white brick over there yer can’t go,” she said, speaking in the same accent as the others in the town.

“Oh, I didn’t realize. We’ll move,” Shoyo replied, jumping down from the barrel. “Sorry if we scared you,” he added, glancing at her. When Kageyama stood up to move she twitched, pulling the door even a bit closer again.

Shoyo suppressed a sigh and left the alley with Kageyama in tow.

“Owner?” he heard behind him, turning around with a frown. He had told Kageyama not to call him that. The vren was holding the end of the rope - the leash - in one hand. Shoyo grabbed it, thankful for the reminder.

“Oh! Young man?” a voice suddenly yelled, Shoyo turning around to look at a scrawny boy, probably a little younger than him run up to them. He was just a bit taller but his features boyish; round cheeks, big eyes and a round nose. He was wearing a white button-up, quite dirty but not teared anywhere. A green and red scarf hung around his neck.

“Yes?” Shoyo asked, hesitantly. He hoped this wasn’t another pick-pocketer. Seemed kind of stupid to try to pickpocket someone who had a damn vren with them. The other boy from before probably didn’t realize Kageyama was Shoyo’s.

“Young man, are yer competing in the fight tonight?” his coarse voice asked excitedly, the boy gripping a roll of parchment tightly in his hands.

“Excuse me?”

“Are yer new to town? I’m runner-boy for Mr. Nao, I’ll show yer to the arena!” he exclaimed, still standing about two metres from Shoyo. Probably keeping his space from Kageyama rather than him, though.  
  
“The arena?” Shoyo asked. Wasn’t that what Kageyama talked about earlier?  
  
The boy eyed him up and down, one eye slightly twitching; “Ye’re not here for the fight?”  
  
“F-for vrens?” Shoyo asked, stumbling a bit over the words. Finally he caught up.  
  
“Oh…” The boy seemed to realize something and hastily glanced at Kageyama, taking another step back, “I just assumed, with the vren and all,” he said. Then he lit up again, mood changing quicker than lightning. There was definitely something off about him. Shoyo especially didn’t like how both his eyes were twitching.  
  
“It’… still an option though. You can totally still compete, especially with a large vren like that! ” he exclaimed, cracking a quick smile, “We hold fights here every Friday, the arena is just before the bridge in north. People from all over the word come to compete and gamblers bet their money. Yer get to view the wrath, the raw strength of these beasts in an intense fight, down in the arena. Mr. Nao’s arena is the original and the biggest, it’ always packed with people! The beer is ver’ cheap too and tonight we’ve got dancers performing too!” the boy explained, his eyes shining.

“What do you win?” Shoyo asked, simply out of curiosity. He had no plans to let Kageyama compete.  
  
“Money, of course! It depends on the bets. Mr. Olaf Black won over a hundred silver stones once. And he only had a regular grey!” the boy grinned.  
  
“And losers?” Shoyo asked, a hand on his hip. The boy closed his mouth, looking almost stumped, like it was a dumb question.  
  
“W-well… they lose? There obviously can’t be two winners,” he said. “It’ a dream for all boys to watch a real vren fight. I tell yer, ye’ll love it!”

“I’ll consider it, thanks,” Shoyo said, half-turning to leave.

“If yer do decide to come, please tell Mr. Nao it was Rubbo who sent you!” The boy smiled widely and then bolted, Shoyo looking after him.

“He does his job good, it does sound exciting,” Shoyo mumbled, turning Kageyama who wore a blank expression.

“Have you ever seen a fight?” he asked, making his way up a pair of uneven stone stairs. The sun was setting in the horizon and Shoyo would want to find a room to stay in soon. He still wasn’t feeling tired but he didn’t know what else to do. He had bought some province for traveling before the dumplings.

“Yes,” Kageyama simply replied. Shoyo nodded slowly, then asked; “have you ever been in one?”

“Yes.”

“Good,” Shoyo replied, continuing to the top of the stony steps. Then he froze and nearly fell over. He had been so ready with his reply of “good” because he took for granted Kageyama would reply with no.

“Wait- wh-wou-wa-you have?” he asked, eyes wide. Kageyama stopped behind him, for once beneath Shoyo in height because of the stairs.

“Yes.”

Shoyo wasn’t sure what to say. He had seen the scars on the vren's body. The thought made Shoyo feel very uncomfortable but it made sense, he supposed, if Kageyama had been here before. 

“M-many times?” he asked, fingers twitching where they were holding onto the fabric of his pants.

“Seven,” Kageyama replied, still wearing his blank expression.

***-***-***

A little less than an hour later they were sitting inside a hotel room. It was cheaper than the last place but in better condition; similar in size but the sheets didn’t smell of piss and alcohol. There was even a small porcelain bowl of water on a table, a slightly rusty mirror in front. Shoyo examined his hair and with a sigh started picking out any leaves and twigs. He needed a bath. It was getting colder outside so it had been a while since he last jumped into a river or lake.

The woman down in the reception had been surprised Shoyo didn’t want to store Kageyama in a cage out in the back. She assured him they were safely guarded and that the price for a cage wasn’t much. Shoyo then came up with the idea of telling her Kageyama was a guarding vren. It sounded dumb coming out from his mouth but she ‘ahh’d and obliged.

The small window of the room had been covered with planks and a cloth, to keep the cold out during later seasons, so Shoyo had to light the oil lamp on the table. It took him a minute and afterwards he could finally close the hallway door where torches were lit along the wall.

He looked over at Kageyama, doing a double take as he watched the vren bobbing his head up and down, hand in his face. Shoyo took a step forwards only to see that the vren was cleaning his paw. The vren looked up and stopped.

“Uh, sorry, go on. We both need a clean up, huh?” Shoyo said, walking over to sit down on the bed.

Kageyama didn’t say anything but continued lapping with his tongue around the inside of his paw, palm, whatever, Shoyo thought. He leaned back on the bed to swing his legs. The vren eyed him for a second. Shoyo frowned.

“Are you okay?” he asked, sitting up straight. The vren stopped licking and sat back as well.

"Yes."

“Kageyama,” Shoyo demanded, huffing.

“It is just a nail or something,” the vren replied, slowly and carefully setting down his palm on the floor. Shoyo could tell even from here he wasn’t putting any weight onto it.

“Let me see,” Shoyo said, waving him to come closer. The vren did, surprisingly compliant and carefully turned his palm up. The human gently took a hold of it and pulled it into his lap. There was hardened skin on the inside, just like dogs and cats had, but the vren’s hands really didn’t look like dog or wolf paws. Neither did it look like a human’s hand, even if all that hair wasn’t there. The claws were long and looked as sharp as ever, even this close. Shoyo absently trailed a finger to one, feeling the edge. It was a bit blunt, but still like a knife.

Realizing what he was doing he glanced up, meeting Kageyama’s blue eyes, and looked down, flushing a bit. “Sorry,” Shoyo mumbled.

When he fetched the oil lamp and placed it on the bedside table for light he soon found the old nail, which really wasn’t small at all. It was black, like the rest of Kageyama’s skin and fur.

“Okay, I’m gonna pull it out quickly,” he said after poking around as gently as he could for a minute. Kageyama sat still, waiting. Shoyo took a firm grip on head of the nail and then tugged, listening to the fast exhale the vren emitted. And that was all. Blood started trickling from the wound and Shoyo looked around for anything to bind it with.

“It is okay,” Kageyama said in a low voice, bringing his paw up to lap at it again. Shoyo watched him for a second then nodded. He thought he heard a ‘thank you’ but wasn’t really sure.

***-***-***

Shoyo had eventually fallen asleep snug next to Kageyama’s body on the bed, again having to straight up order the vren to get on the damn thing. The heat source of the vren’s body was better than any fire shoyo slept next to during the winters at home. He was incredibly soft but also warm. And even if he looked rather terrifying Shoyo felt safe around him. He had sworn the oath. He would protect Shoyo.

With a twitch the human suddenly awoke, feeling around in the darkness, hands meeting the soft fur on all sides around him. A bit clumsily Shoyo hoisted himself up sitting, one hand holding onto a fist of black fur as he listened. He could hear loud voices.

“-s to be it! I’m sure, Gottfried! Yer just-...-still realize it!” someone hissed outside, Shoyo having to concentrate to hear.

“I know the vren is not the boy’s, I’m not stupid, Berthilda!” Someone replied, a bit louder, a man.

Shoyo had a vague idea what the conversation could be about and worryingly he tugged a bit on Kageyama’s fur, turning to look where he thought the vren’s head would be. The lamp must’ve gone out sometime during the night. Shoyo had no idea what time it was but he didn’t feel like he had slept for long.

“They are talking about us,” Kageyama whispered just above Shoyo’s head, the human looking up in the darkness.

“What are they saying?” he whispered back, feeling his pulse quicken.

“That you stole me. The man knew my second owner, the one you found. He does not know he is dead,” Kageyama spoke and Shoyo carefully got to his feet, Kageyama’s tail moving.

“We should… we should go. Before they bust in here,” he whispered shakily, turning to the tiny strip of light coming from a gap in the wood by the window. With his hands in front of him Shoyo walked over in the darkness, reaching the wall. Trying to be as quiet as possible he tugged on the wooden frame, getting it loose without too much difficulty. It made a creaking sound, though.

“Can you grab all the stuff?” he asked to Kageyama who already had done just that, holding the backpack for Shoyo. The human grabbed it, shrugging into it. Leaning out the window he could see a convenient pile of trash, mostly hay it looked like, lying along the walls of the building. They were only on the second floor but Shoyo didn’t exactly want to jump if he didn’t have to. A large sound behind him had the human yell out in surprise, turning to see two men and a woman, the hotel-keeper, standing in the doorway, holding torches.

“Don’t yer fucking run, boy!” the tallest man yelled, Shoyo recognizing him as the buff guard from the previous day. Quickly jumping outside Shoyo hit the pile of old grass, standing up quickly, in time to watch Kageyama leap out from the window and very graciously land on the ground beside him. He sort of looked like a cat, jumping. The head of the guard appeared in the window, the man growling like an animal.

“We’ll get yer, boy! Thief!” he yelled before disappearing, probably taking the stairs.

“I’m not a-! Shoyo started but cursed, turning towards the alley. He had seen from the window that the street wasn’t too long and would eventually lead into the forest. Without looking behind he ran between the old buildings, hearing yells far behind them. Soon he saw the thick trunks of the forest and held two arms above his head to protect himself from twigs. It was completely dark inside and Shoyo soon stopped after nearly hitting a tree face-first, instead slamming his shoulder against it.

“Ka-Kageyama,” he hissed, soon feeling the warmth of the vren on his side. “Are they still following?”

“Yes, they have dogs. You should let me run,” the vren said, voice a bit higher than usual, almost like he was… excited. Shoyo cursed but reached around to where the thick scruff of Kageyama’s neck was, still careful to avoid the scars where the collar had been stuck, and jumped on. The scars had healed, a lot faster than they would on a human, but Shoyo wasn’t sure if they still hurt or not so he didn’t take any chances.

He had only ridden the vren once before and it was very different from riding a horse. First off Kageyama’s body wasn’t as flat on his back so even with all the fur it kind of hurt. Shoyo also had to hold on to the fur around his neck and lean forwards, almost lying flat on the vren’s back while he held on tight with his knees; it was a bit of a work-out too.

But it was fast. So fast Shoyo had a little hard time breathing. He couldn’t see anything around them but he could tell they were moving quickly.

“You’re going north, right?” he asked against the vren’s neck, hoping he would hear it. Kageyama slowed down, now strutting along the mossy ground, and Shoyo realized he could see it. Glancing up and above Kageyama's head - he didn’t dare lean to the side in fear of falling off - Shoyo could see poles with torches on them.

“Where are we?” Shoyo asked, wondering why Kageyama had gotten so close to where potential humans could be.

“There is no one around, but a large group up ahead. We have to pass them to get to the bridge,” the vren said in a lowered voice. He passed along big rocks and tree trunks, the path with the torches just a couple metres to their left. Shoyo still couldn’t see or hear anyone.

“Okay, let me get off,” he whispered, grabbing a hold of Kageyama’s scruff , readying himself before swinging his left leg over the back, cursing as his body toppled over. If he hadn’t held on he would’ve fallen flat to the ground.

“S-sorry,” he whispered as he released his tight grip, awkwardly patting the fur down as Kageyama’s big eyes were watching him.

Feeling his face heat up Shoyo turned towards the torches again, following them from far away. They should lead to the bridge but he still didn’t dare to walk up onto the path.

As a rather clumsy human yet small Shoyo made some noise where he was walking; sticks were breaking and he accidentally kicked or tripped over a root now and then. It was dark, okay? Kageyama behind him, however, was completely silent. Shoyo glanced at him once to make sure he was still following, which he was, slightly crouched against the ground.

Soon Shoyo started hearing voices up ahead, cursing inwardly. They neared closer, Shoyo constantly on the look-out. Kageyama ran fast so hopefully they would’ve lost the people following them from before, but Shoyo still wasn’t sure he could just show his face to these people or not. Glancing at Kageyama again he realised the collar wasn’t around his neck.

“Did you leave the rope?” Shoyo whispered in question.

“It is in your bag,” the vren replied and Shoyo nodded slowly, then continued forwards without taking it out.

The voices grew louder and soon enough Shoyo could hear two men close to his right, in the forest.

“-care of his damn vren, like it’ a pet. It’ what makes him lose every time, yer know?” one said, the other replying with a sluggish laugh. Shoyo frowned. They sounded drunk. He could hear the sound of them peeing and he waited before they finished, watching them walk back towards wherever everyone else was, nearly falling over every rock and root in the ground.

Shoyo continue forwards a few metres, soon crouching behind a small hill with large boulders. Then he saw the many torches and humans standing in a ring, shouting and cheering. He could guess what this place was then.

It was the arena.

They had dug a large pit just a metre into the ground, panning at least 10m of space, where now a black, no, deep brown vren was sitting. It looked really roughed up, eyes half-lidded and his fur gone in some places. Shoyo gulped as he watched it waver in it’s spot.

There were a lot of people standing around, some sitting on tree trunks that functioned as benches. There had to be around 30 people here, Shoyo roughly counted. He could spot 3 more vrens than the one in the pit. One was lying on it’s side by, presumably, it’s owner. It’s short, grey fur was covered in blood and it was panting.

“Not doing so good there, Gunnar? Should just let it flee home,” someone called to the owner of the grey vren. The man glared and moved to kick the vren on the ground, the creature quickly scrambling to get up in a sitting position.

“I’ve still got my Crow, you horse-fucker,” the man then replied, some people in the mass laughing.

“And that brings us to the next match!” Someone yelled in a booming voice. Shoyo looked up to see an older man standing on stool, taller than the crowd. He must’ve just stepped up because Shoyo would’ve otherwise notice him first in the group. He was wearing a thick, brown and white splotched fur jacket and Shoyo felt his stomach turn upside down. He didn’t want to know, but he could only guess where that large of a fur came from. Carefully glancing at Kageyama behind him he saw that the vren had sat down, meeting Shoyo’s eyes silently. The human turned back to the arena again.

“Maybe we should…” Shoyo started to whisper but quieted as the man spoke again.

“We’ve got Gunnar, with his strong Mixbreed Grey not looking so strong anymore,” he declared joyfully, gesturing to the man,” but his other vren, a Splotched Crow-vren, is a fight I think many of us have been waiting for. Am I right?” he yelled in question and people cheered loudly.

“And still in the ring; Hayato’s beastly Bear Vren in still standing… sort of,” he continued, people laughing again. Shoyo frowned.

“Hayato has had 2 wins this far with the vren while Gunnar’s vren is completely new; fresh and ripe! It’ an unpredictable fight, where are yer bets, gentlemen?” The man hollered and a chatter begun in the crowds. Shoyo watched a woman holding out what was in her pocket, counting coins before handing them to an eager boy, just a child, in front of her.

“Last bets, last bets! Anyone else willing to try their luck?” the man shouted and Shoyo pressed his lips together. He felt like he should leave, like he didn’t want to see this. Trying to absently look behind him he saw Kageyama still in the same spot.

“Do you want to leave?” he asked, his voice barely a whisper. Shoyo couldn’t deny he wasn’t curious, because he was. He had never seen a vren in a fight, ever, but he knew they were ferocious. He sort of felt like… he should know, though, how it worked and what they could do.

As expected Kageyama said nothing and Shoyo turned back to watch, hands on the rock in front of him.

“Attention, everybody! Are you ready for the fight?!” the man suddenly yelled, Shoyo hearing his heart beating loudly in his ears. He watched as the owner of the short-haired Grey turned around, pulled on something and a black vren with several blonde spots stepped forwards. It was a pretty fur, Shoyo had to admit, and the face was slimmer than the Grey’s. It had a metal chain around his neck and the owner yanked it off, pointing towards the pit.

“It’ way too small, that Crow. Yer have put yer money wrong,” someone near the back, close to Shoyo said to a friend. The other replied, first with a snort, then; “It’ fast, yer know that. The Crow I saw back in the Capital was like a cat on it’ legs. Yer just watch.”

And as Shoyo took a deep breath, the fight begun.

Both owners said something to their vrens and the two wolf-like creatures immediately stood up in the pit, starting to circle each other. The owner on the right, Gunnar, hissed something that sounded like “attack” and the smaller, splotched vren leaped forwards. It was aiming for the bigger vren’s back legs it looked like. But the larger vren turned around. As it bared its teeth and snapped its jaws Shoyo gulped, watching the smaller one jump back just in time.

As the two vrens circled each other people cheered on, some yelling for them to attack and fight. The two creatures only listened to their owners, however, and leaped, tried to scratch and bite when told. Then suddenly the owners yelled “kill it” loudly together, Shoyo’s eyes widening as he watched the two vrens leap at the same time. It was a tumble of limbs and fur, snarls and loud growls and Shoyo watched in shock as the people around the pit yelled louder than ever. The little boy was standing almost at the pit’s edge, waving with his arms as his eyes shone, his mother then pulling him back a bit.

“Kill it, kill it!” he yelled, fire in his eyes.

“What are they doing? T-they can’t-” Shoyo whispered, half to Kageyama, half to himself. He couldn’t tear his eyes away, the high pitched wail coming from the pit making his shoulders tense up.

Then the limbs stilled and the brown vren was standing above the smaller, Crow vren. Both were panting, their chests rising, and Shoyo watched in horror as blood dripped from the brown’s mouth.

“Kill it!” the owner on the left yelled, jumping up and down.

“Get up, you worthless piece of shit! Get up!” the other yelled.

While the smaller vren shakily got up on his feet, tumbling a bit to the side of the pit, the other, brown one stood still. Gasps were heard in the crowds and Shoyo didn’t first understand why. Then he realized the brown vren hadn’t listened to the command to kill. It had ignored it and was standing still, looking at the smaller vren.

“I get to kill it!” the owner on the right, Gunnar, yelled in triumph, his voice breaking with excitement. Some people around him cheered and clapped his shoulder and Shoyo watched the man take out a spear that had stood behind him.

“Kill the vren! Kill it, Asahi!” the man on the left yelled on, his brown vren still not listening. It stood in it’s spot, ears flattened against his head, still staring at the smaller vren.

Shoyo found himself breathing heavily together with the two vrens, his fingers shaking as he watched Gunnar walk over to the pit, standing just above the brown vren, raising his spear.

Shoyo couldn’t watch, he turned his head around, slamming his hands over his ears, shutting his eyes as well.

He felt sick, he felt like he would throw up. Dread was icy over his shoulders, dripping down his arms where he felt even colder than before. White spots were moving behind his eyelids, weird patterns forming and Shoyo tried desperately to calm down. Seconds had passed, it had to be over now.

Lifting his hands first he heard the sound of people still cheering, the clinking of coins and someone yelling curses angrily.

Shoyo slowly opened his eyes and first met Kageyama’s blue ones. He wore a blank expression as he usually did, but it was ever so slightly curious, perhaps of Shoyo’s reaction. Carefully Shoyo turned around again, holding his arms around himself this time. It was like the weather had gotten freezingly cold suddenly. Shoyo felt like crying.

He wished he hadn’t stopped to watch. He wished he would’ve just continued with Kageyama earlier and ran from this Godforsaken town.

With slightly narrowed eyes, so he couldn’t see the scene fully, he looked over at the pit. His eyes still couldn’t avert from the still body of the brown vren, lying on it’s side. It’s eyes were closed. It looked like it was sleeping.

The smaller vren was back at Gunnar’s feet, staring into the ground, just like the gray one beside him did.

“-and Gunnar is the winner of two fights this night! We all congratulate him on his wins!” the man on the stool yelled with a grin, clapping both hands. Gunnar, the owner, stood holding the spear, raising it towards the sky, exclaiming a yell of triumph.

“This is horrible,” Shoyo heard himself whisper. “Why would he kill the- Why w-,” his voice tried but wasn’t able to finish the sentence. He turned to look at Kageyama again, eyes pleading for an explanation.

“If a vren does not obey his owner it will be killed,” the vren explained, Shoyo staring at him in shock, “If it happens during a fight the opponent might kill it if he pleases,”

“B-but it’s just supposed to be a fight, right? To see who wins?” Shoyo asked, shakily. He could still hear the echoing of the owners yelling “kill it” in his ears.

“It is a fight to the death,” Kageyama replied, the words making Shoyo shut his eyes again.

***-***-***

Shoyo was crouched behind a group of boxes, eyes scanning the area in front of them. He watched, eyes widened, as Gunnar came outside, heading for the river.

The man passed the pole where his two vrens were tied in the chains, both lying down. They had been cleaning their wounds since Gunnar tied them to the pole. The light from the loud tavern didn’t reach them in the backyard and Shoyo had been absently listening to the singing voices inside for a while.

He had made up his mind already. Kageyama was sitting beside him, eyes following Gunnar as well. They watched the man take a leak in the river, stumbling a little. He was clearly drunk. When he finished he turned back towards the house, but Shoyo watched him pick up something from the grass. It was a thick branch or something.

Shoyo couldn’t hear what the man was saying from the distance, but he watched him speak to the vrens. Then, to his horror, Shoyo watched Gunnar lift his arm and hit the smaller vren hard on the head with the branch.

“If I tell yer to kill; yer kill!” the man yelled and Shoyo’s hands in the grass tightened. Gunnar aimed another beat, the vren not moving away from the beating.

“Kill him,” Shoyo hear himself whisper, shocked at his own words for a moment. He had been thinking about them, about the command since Kageyama told him it was no use trying to steal the two vrens. They wouldn’t leave while still having an owner. And Shoyo had quickly figured out what he had to do then.

He stared as Kageyama’s dark form jumped over the boxes and sprinted forwards.

Shoyo’s breath was in his throat, the wind pushing his hair back as he watched, eyes wide open, as Kageyama leaped onto the man. It took only a second, a barely-heard grunt before the man was lying still on the ground. He hadn’t even had time to realize what was happening. Both vrens were standing, struggling against the chains. Even then, they had tried to protect their owner.

Shoyo moved, on shaking legs he ran forwards, staying behind Kageyama’s body, looking at the two vrens. They were looking at him too.

“Drop whatever revenge oaths you made because they no longer matter,” Shoyo heard Kageyama growl, the noise making goosebumps appear on Shoyo’s arms. The soaked grass from the rain made wet noises under his shoes as Shoyo walked closer, only glancing at Gunnar’s body.

“P-pull him into the river,” Shoyo whispered to Kageyama who immediately moved to do so. He grabbed onto one arm of the lifeless body and walked towards the water, Shoyo turning back to look at the vrens.

“Your owner is dead. Can you swear to me?” Shoyo asked hastily, voice lowered. He glanced up at the tavern every now and then. Someone else could come outside any second.

“Why did you kill him?” the small vren hissed, Shoyo watching the grey look at the other vren, as in surprise. Shoyo could see now, this close, that the grey vren’s right eye was closed. Perhaps because of his short fur it was easier to see all the scars and wounds on his body, but he looked a lot rougher. Most of the blood seemed to have dried up by now but they both were probably in a lot of pain.

“Because I don’t believe in treating vrens like that. I swear I will set you free if you promise to not hurt me and follow me,” Shoyo said, then added, “for now.”

Neither of the vren’s couldn’t suppress their surprise, three eyes widening at the human’s words. Something passed against Shoyo’s back and he watched Kageyama appear on his side, standing a bit over him. Both vrens now looked at the Royal, undoubtedly cowering a bit. Then the gray glanced at the tavern, like he was looking out for people, just like Shoyo.

“Name?” he asked, his voice hoarse.

“Shoyo Hinata,” he quickly replied, hands twitching, wanting to remove the chains already.

“By my name, Tanaka, I swear to follow and not hurt you, Shoyo Hinata,” he said, the words spoken in a weird way, like he wasn’t used to talking. Shoyo nodded, he then looked at the other vren.

It kept quiet, staring at Shoyo with it’s yellow eyes.

“We have to go, before someone comes,” Shoyo whispered, still not daring to go closer to the vrens. He was out of reach from their sharp claws and would stay there until both promised not to hurt him.

The smaller vren narrowed his eyes.

“You’re just a kid,” he growled, showing it’s fangs, ears pushed back. Shoyo stared at him in surprise, view suddenly blocked by black fur, a low, dangerous growl reaching his ears. Shoyo reached out a hand, touching Kageyama’s side.

“If he doesn’t want to be free that’s his choice,” Shoyo said, even though he rather felt like forcing the damn vren if he could. Then again he couldn’t blame them, these vrens had probably never seen kindness in humans, and who knew how long they had been around. Shoyo recalled Mr. Nao, over at the fight, saying that it was the first fight ever for the Splotched, Crow-vren.

Kageyama could probably take both vrens on, either way, and they grey had already promised to follow Shoyo. But the human didn't want another fight to happen, so he wouldn’t forcefully take the Crow vren.

The grey vren then hissed, eyes on his companion who had backed away from Kageyama.

“We have to go, _now_ ,” Shoyo tried, “last chance.”

“By my name, Yu Nishinoya, I swear to follow you, Shoyo Hinata,” he then hissed between his teeth and Shoyo relaxed. He took a step forwards to reach for the chain but was immediately pushed back by Kageyama again, almost falling to the grass.

“What the-” Shoyo hissed, watching Kageyama and the vren named Yu bare their teeth at each other.

“He did not swear to not hurt you,” Kageyama explained and Shoyo stilled.

“Oh.”

The grey vren then joined Kageyama in growling at the Crow vren. Only then did it still and bend its head, Shoyo hearing it speak; “By my name, Yu Nishinoya, I swear to follow and not harm you, Shoyo Hinata,” in a clear enough voice.

“That’s okay right?” Shoyo hastily asked Kageyama who nodded, stepping back.

“Come on then, we have to hurry,” Shoyo hissed, walking up to the pole. He felt nervous, his legs still shaking. Whether it was because he was now standing beside two, just seconds ago, free vrens or because Shoyo had just made the decision to kill a man, he wasn’t sure. He pushed the thoughts away again, he didn’t have time to ponder now.

The sound of a door opening and closing had Shoyo’s eyes widening and fingers stilling on the chains around the pole, his heart speeding up. He snapped his head to Kageyama in fear.

“Can you get them off?” he asked, taking a step back, gesturing at the pole. But instead Kageyama, at least double the size of the Crow vren, walked up to the two chains.

And bit them off.

Shoyo stared in silence, watching all three vrens watching him, waiting for something.

He just… bit it off.

Metal.

Just like that.

 _‘Sure, the chain wasn’t_ too _thick, not like the one Kageyama had been tied to way back-’_

Gathering himself Shoyo spluttered something like “Let’s go,” and headed towards the boxes they had hid behind before, the bridge just up ahead. They passed over it on quick feet and Shoyo vaguely saw a pole with another goat skull on his right, then continued forwards. There was a wide gravel road continuing straight forwards but Shoyo dived into the forest with the others in tow, finally out of the town.

It still caught him off guard whenever he saw another form that wasn’t Kageyama behind him or on his side. After they had gotten inside the forest, passing between tree trunks, Shoyo started slowing down. Just as before it was incredibly dark here, the trees growing tights and the moonlight not reaching down between the tree tops.

Suddenly feeling an arm around his front Shoyo gasped and came to a stop, feeling the soft fur of the arm, holding him back.

“There is a pit in front of you,” Kageyama’s voice whispered just behind his head and Shoyo gulped, then nodded.

“Thanks.”

He took a step backwards and Kageyama’s touch disappeared. Shoyo looked around and could vaguely see his blue eyes i the dark. Prepared to reach forwards, so he could hold a hand on Kageyama’s back while they walked in the forest at night, the human jumped at the sound of another voice.

“You’re a weird human,” someone hissed to his left. Shoyo looked that way and could kind of make out two yellow eyes and a shape in the darkness.

“You’re a weird vren,” Shoyo barked back without a better comeback prepared, watching the creature slightly tilt it’s head. Shoyo rolled his eyes.

“We should track a bit further, maybe find some place to set up a fire,” Shoyo said to Kageyama. It was silent around them.

Trying to be a bit discreet, ignoring the fact that the three vrens probably saw just fine in the darkness, he stepped closer to the large vren to whisper; “Can you carry me or it that not considered okay?”

He expected the silence that followed, leaning back to glance at the blue eyes. What Shoyo didn’t expect, however, was the short sound that emitted from Kageyama. It almost sounded like… a laugh?

Shoyo stared at him in surprise, then felt himself flush. Hopefully the vrens couldn’t see that well in the dark…

“Forgive me,” Kageyama then spoke in a lowered but deep voice, eyes lowering a bit, “it is your choice, owner,” he continued, something like… amusement in his eyes.

Shoyo snorted, a bit embarrassed, and tightened his grip on Kageyama’s scruff, a little harder than usual. With a swift jump he got on, at least not falling off on the other side.

“Go deeper into the woods, still in the direction of the Capital, and find a tree with some cover or something, preferably with a stream nearby” Shoyo ordered in a mildly sour voice. He tightened the hold his knees had and held on, preparing himself to feel the harsh wind against his face.

And Kageyama ran.


	4. Kitagawa

Shoyo felt exhausted. It was probably midnight by now and he couldn't resist resting his head against Kageyama’s back, not caring any longer if he looked childish to the other vrens. Their opinions didn’t matter anyway.

The memories of the night started catching up to him and he frowned as he tried to, again, ignore the sound of his own voice, as he commanded Kageyama to…

Shoyo’s mind was cleared when he suddenly noticed he could hear panting behind them, frowning as he turned around to look. He still couldn’t see anything but small parts of light where the moonlight shone through the trees, and they were going fast. But after a moment he realized they might be going _too_ fast.

“Oi,” Shoyo called to Kageyama, “are you being rude on purpose?”

“Excuse me?” the vren replied, but it didn’t sound surprised at all. Shoyo sighed.

“Slow down. They’re obviously having a hard time keeping up,” Shoyo commanded and felt Kageyama’s speed decrease.

Shoyo frowned. Why had Kageyama deliberately been running fast when he knew the other two vrens were hurt? Did he want to prove how much faster he was? Shoyo had gathered that vrens were proud creatures but this was… _childish_.

Soon enough Kageyama came to a stop, walking in a circle before he stilled. Shoyo carefully jumped off, more smoothly this time. They were standing in an opening between the trees and the moonlight shone down, Shoyo happy to be able to see for once. He absently checked that all three vrens were there before he shrugged out of his backpack. There was an old, large pine tree just in front of the glade. Shoyo felt the ground beneath; it was dry. He rested his backpack there took out the small pouch of salt and seasoning he had purchased earlier that day, together with his water-skin and his box of matches. He was down to 8.

Then he turned to the vrens again. Kageyama sat still like a statue, looking at Shoyo while the grey and splotched vren sat closer to each other, still breathing heavily. Shoyo tsk’d a bit, glaring shortly at Kageyama before walking up to the two vrens. When he came closer they both straightened up.

“How are you feeling?” he asked. The grey looked at him, like he was confused and didn’t understand the question. Neither of them replied. Shoyo scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

“Well, could you help me look for dry wood and tinder, some dried leaves or something? We need to make a fire” Shoyo said, watching both vrens turn around and move. For a second he thought they were running away but then he watched the grey vren head to the left, eyes scanning the ground.

Shoyo could feel a sting of pain in his right arm. His fingers trailer over a hole in the fabric and he figured he must’ve gotten hurt somewhere along the road. He didn’t even remember when. Turning to Kageyama he sighed.

“Can you hunt? Maybe something bigger?” he asked and the vren looked behind Shoyo, the human turning to see Yu looking at them. The small vren then went back to searching around the trees.

“I’m hungry, hurry,” Shoyo told Kageyama who finally turned to move, passing Yu on the way. Shoyo couldn’t hear if he spoke to him or not but Yu’s ears flattened again, his eyes on the Royal vren. He looked like a threatened cat.

With a sigh Shoyo went over to the large tree, grabbing strands of dry grass. He then sat down in the middle of the gland, pushing away wet leaves and clearing some space to build a fire. Shoyo could only find a few small stones but put them in a circle as best he could, placing the dried grass inside.

Something was making him feel… a bit on edge and he looked up every now and then, trying to discreetly scan the place. The grey had disappeared from his view but Shoyo’s eyes always caught onto Yu’s. He couldn’t help but shiver at the look. A month ago Shoyo would’ve probably scrambled to his feet and ran, maybe even pissed himself. Because while Kageyama was a lot stronger Shoyo trusted him; he wasn’t sure he did with Yu.

Kageyama was the first one to appear, carrying an entire deer in his arms. Shoyo had seen him walk on two legs before but it always looked odd, kind of scary. He was always hunched over but probably reached up to above 2 meters if he straightened. Dropping the animal’s body on the ground he turned his back to Yu, starting to dissect the deer. Even Shoyo understood that move; he was underestimating Yu. Ignoring him.

The grey vren, Tanaka, returned with a couple sticks dry enough, one entire dead branch and Shoyo placed them over the dried grass, trying to start the fire. It took him two matches, to his frustration.

Shoyo walked over to crouch by the deer, taking out his knife to cut himself a piece. His mother had taught him how to prepare rabbits and smaller animals, but he wasn't really sure where to start. Kageyama had skinned most of the side, Shoyo scratching his head. He settled for the back legs, those were usually tender if he remembered correctly. Cutting himself a large piece he struggled a bit with attaching it to a stick. Coating the still warm meat with some of the salt and herbs he then made himself comfortable in front of the fire.

Sighing he started grilling the meat in the fire, holding it above the warm flames. Eyeing the other vrens he cleared his voice.

“Can I trust you to share the meat evenly?” Shoyo asked in a small voice. He felt like a headache was coming.

Kageyama nodded and dug his claws into the side of the deer, starting to rip out chunks with his teeth. Shoyo watched, only having seen Kageyama eat a boar at most before. He slowly turned his meat over in the fire, then glanced at the other two vrens. They sat in the edge of the opening, both looking at Kageyama.

“Go on,” Shoyo mumbled, gesturing towards the deer. But neither vren moved.

“Kageyama…” Shoyo started. The vren looked up from where he was eating. The fur around his mouth was wet with the blood but the red colour wasn’t showing against the coal black hairs. Shoyo looked at him with pleading, tired eyes. The vren narrowed his but stood up on all fours, taking a hold on one of the back legs of the deer. And then pulled it off it’s body.

Shoyo cleared his voice a little at the scene, pretending to be occupied with staring at his meat. He started wondering what would’ve happened if Kageyama hadn’t been near starvation, tied to a tree and hurt when Shoyo found him. He released a shaky sigh.

Kageyama moved closer to the human with his food, leaving the rest of the deer body over by the edge of the glade. Only then did the two other vrens finally dare to attack the carcass, both clearly hungry.

Shoyo had his chin resting in his hand, legs crossed on the ground where he sat and felt himself starting to nod off. After jerking back three times he realized his meat was starting to burn, taking the stick off the fire, shaking the piece harshly.

Harshly enough for the steak to fly off. Shoyo stared in misery at the piece, lying a couple metres in front of him. With a whiny groan he crawled over to it, not even bothered to stand up. It was cold outside, even with the fire, and Shoyo sat back in the same spot as before, where his body had warmed the ground enough. He did an okay job cleaning dead fir needles off his food before eating it. It was still not fully cooked all way through but it was completely fresh so it should be fine.

“Do we have to stay here?” Shoyo then heard Yu hiss, looking over at him with surprise. He had almost forgotten the two vrens were there. They were lying in the darkness of the forest, watching him. The human scratched his arm absently.

“Well, I was gonna ask you a couple things, but after that?” Shoyo tried barging and the gray slowly nodded while Yu continued to glare.

“You said you would set us free after-” he started growling but quieted, Shoyo watching his eyes fall onto Kageyama. The Royal vren had absently stood up beside Shoyo. The human reached out again, placing a hand on the vren’s front leg, all he could reach from his seat. Kageyama didn’t move nor did he sit down again.

“I will, I promise… but I’m traveling for a reason. I’m headed for Miyagi, the capital, and I was wondering… if perhaps you’ve seen some mountain people pass through?... lately?” Shoyo tried. He probably should’ve thought about what to ask before speaking.

The grey shook his head; no. Yu continued to stare at Shoyo before he turned his head.

“No.”

“Ah, okay then. Thanks anyway,” Shoyo chuckled lightly, knowing he should’ve expected that answer. He wondered if he should’ve asked more people in the village, but it was surely a suspicious thing to ask about, right? Mountain people weren’t popular by any humans, as far as Shoyo knew.

He turned to Kageyama on his side, the vren still boring his eyes into the other two. Shoyo sighed.

“How do I free them?” he asked, Kageyama turning to look at him.

“You say, in your name, that you free them, with their name,” the vren explained and Shoyo raised an eyebrow, clearing his voice before turning to the other two vrens. Yu was standing up, his stare making Shoyo feel a little uneasy. Kageyama was beside him, guarding, but this Yu vren really didn’t like Shoyo. Earlier, when his owner had been killed, and he had been free, he had been chained up. Now he had the entire forest to roam about, when Shoyo let him go.

“I herby- no, I, Shoyo Hinata, hereby set you free, Yu Noyanishi,” Shoyo said, trying to speak up a bit. All three vrens looked at him.

“That’s not my name,” Yu hissed and Shoyo gulped. Oops.

“Oh, I’m sorry-” he laughed nervously, “w-what was it then?”

“Yu Nishinoya.”

“Oh, okay. Ehum. I, Shoyo Hinata, hereby set you free, Yu Nishinoya,” he said, watching the Crow-vren nod slowly. The fire crackled in front of them, an owl hooting somewhere far off. Shoyo continued; “I, Shoyo Hinata, hereby set you free, Tanaka.”

He was pretty sure the grey vren’s name was Tanaka and that he only gave him one name. The grey vren nodded, so it must’ve been enough then.

Shoyo blinked, the two vrens still standing there. He cleared his throat again; “Goodbye. I hope you two get to live peaceful lives from here on out and-”

Shoyo was interrupted, gasping in fear as he watched Yu take a step forwards, eyes intimidating. Kageyama was immediately growling, taking two large strides forwards.

The hooting of the owl disappeared; other than the fire it was quiet around them. Everyone had stilled.

“Try it,” a low voice growled, almost purred. A second later Shoyo realized it was Kageyama’s voice.

“Thank you,” a hoarse voice spoke, Shoyo looking to the side at the grey vren, Tanaka. The human nodded slowly in reply. Then he watched Tanaka turn and run, Yu looking after him. The Crow-vren took one last look at Shoyo before following his companion.

“What… Why did he hate me so much?” Shoyo asked Kageyama, the large vren still having his eyes on the forest, ears standing tall on his head; listening, waiting. After at least a minute of Kageyama not replying the human slowly relaxed. Yu still hadn’t suddenly appeared to attack him and Shoyo’s shoulders slowly fell from their tense state. He sighed.

“I’m really tired, the sun’s probably gonna be up in like a minute,” he said, yawning. That was probably an exaggeration but it had been a long night. Shoyo felt like he deserved some sleep.

The fire was pleasantly warm in front of him but Shoyo knew he would have to put it out soon, warming his hands for a minute before rising to stand. He glanced at the vren. Kageyama had sat down but was still looking into the forest. Shoyo yawned again as he turned to pick up his water skin. He downed the last few drops and then started walking towards the direction he thought he heard the stream come from.

Shoyo jumped, only a little bit, when Kageyama appeared by his side. The human smiled cheekily at him, placing a hand on the vren’s back. He didn’t have to tell Kageyama to lead him the water; the vren did it anyway. It was close enough and Shoyo filled it once to put out the fire, then returned a second time to fill it for himself, for tomorrow's traveling.

The first time Kageyama had walked down to drink, then took a step forwards into the water. Shoyo had whined childishly at his side, the vren looking at him, questioningly.

“I don’t want to sleep beside you if you’re wet. Can’t you bathe tomorrow?” he asked, the vren looking at him for a moment before taking a step back, making a short nod. Shoyo smiled shyly and turned around.

A little while later he was finally getting ready to sleep. Kageyama was lying on his side, Shoyo crawling down to lie snug against his side, the vren moving his tail to cover Shoyo’s front; creating a circle around the human.

Shoyo looked out into the glade, he could see a firefly or two sometimes, something he hadn’t noticed before. The crickets were loud but got fewer the farther up north they traveled, so the sound didn’t bother the human at all.

He sleepily turned his head up, looking at Kageyama. The vren was lying down but his head was still up in the air, his ears moving every now and then. Shoyo watched him for a while.

“Are you going to be able to sleep?” he whispered after a while. The vren looked down at him, scanning his face.

Shoyo listened to the crickets, the even sound of his own breathing, as he scanned the vren’s face. Without realizing it, he had reached out a hand. He had thought about the fur, how it felt, and had suddenly thought that it was a good idea to touch Kageyama. Shoyo’s hand carefully ran under the vren’s large eyes, down to his side.

“How old are you?” the vren asked, barely opening his mouth, being able to speak fine anyway, as usual.

Shoyo blinked and sat up just a little to reach up for the vren’s ear, feeling the short hairs. They were much softer, almost like a rabbits fur. The human lay back down, his hand digging into the thick coat on Kageyama’s chest, not being able to suppress his his urge to scratch him. Shoyo chuckled a little at the look the vren gave him, the human sticking out his tongue between his teeth as he giggled. Kageyama didn’t push his hand away though, so Shoyo left it there.

“Does my age change anything… about the oath?” Shoyo finally asked, keeping his eyes on Kageyama’s. He had figured it didn’t, since the creatures didn’t follow human laws… but according to those human laws Shoyo wouldn’t be old enough to own Kageyama for another half-year.

“No,” the vren replied. There was something different in his eyes. Suddenly they didn’t look so threatening, Shoyo thought.

“17,” Shoyo replied honestly. He didn’t see a change in Kageyama’s face, which was good.

“I thought you were younger,” the vren then replied, looking up into the woods with uninterested eyes. Shoyo was too tired to argue so he just hummed, continuing to run his fingers through the thick, black fur. He was aware he looked younger, not only with his short stance but with his features too. And he wasn’t exactly acting like a grown up either.

Shoyo gave in to the urge to close his eyes, sighing deeply while he dropped his hand and crawled even closer to the warm body. He started thinking about how he would manage when the first snow came, because Shoyo wasn’t sure he would reach Miyagi before that. Hopefully his sister was still okay. Hopefully, even as bad as it sounded, she had been bought by someone kind to do easy work. Like, cock food or clean an old lady’s house. Maybe even take care of horses. Shoyo knew she loved horses.

If only that wasn’t the best outcome he could imagine possible.

With a frown he slowly fell into a sleep of nightmares.

***-***-***

The next morning it was incredibly cold, Shoyo waking up with the tip of his nose feeling like ice. He shivered, turning back to the vren’s body and shoving his face into his side.

“I should’ve spent the money on warm clothes,” he groaned against Kageyama, getting hairs into his mouth. He leaned back, looking up at the vren who didn’t reply, his blue eyes scanning the grounds in front of them. Shoyo frowned.

“Did you sleep anything at all?”

Kageyama got up onto his feet, Shoyo cursing at the cold around him. Wrapping his arms around himself he sat up, legs crossed as he watched Kageyama sit in front of him, waiting. His expression looked blank yet again. And Shoyo had thought the vren had loosened up a bit yesterday. He supposed he had been wrong.

Shoyo deliberately stayed quiet as he dressed in all layers of clothing he had, his backpack now incredibly light on his back. He pulled down the sleeves of his dirty shirt as far as he could, pocketing his hands and beginning to walk again.

He only checked that Kageyama was following once. Shoyo wasn’t mad at him for not speaking and acting distant again. He was just a little… disappointed.

When the sun stood high in the sky a couple hours later, Shoyo was finally warm enough to shrug out of his jacket. It was mostly because of the walking and not the warmer weather, though of course it was appreciated. Shoyo had counted the rest of his money and hoped they would pass another village where he could buy some thicker clothing. If he could only afford mittens that would still be something.

A small mouse ran past his feet, Shoyo jumping just slightly, and he watched it sprint along path before disappearing behind a tree. With a sigh Shoyo walked on, checking his compass once again.

A twig snapped loudly somewhere in front of them and Shoyo looked up, eyes scanning the forest. Then he saw movement between some trees ahead of them. His eyes met with a woman’s; her hair in a tight knot, cheekbones sharp and eyes boring into Shoyo as they got closer on the path. What made Shoyo straighten up mostly, however, was the grey vren walking behind her; it was crouched, almost like it was crawling along the ground. It was staring at Kageyama, no doubt.

Shoyo started walking out of the path to the left, to give her space to pass. He felt a bit tense under her sharp stare and gulped.

“Greetings,” Shoyo said when she got close enough to hear it and she narrowed her eyes slightly.

“Are you a transporter?” she asked instead, stopping between two large trees; blocking the path. Shoyo cursed inwardly.

“No, I own him,” he replied, stopping quite a distance away from her. When Kageyama didn’t come up on his side he glanced behind him, only to look down on the ground. His vren had lied down in, what had to be, a disciplined position. Shoyo turned back to notice the grey vren had done the same behind its owner. Shoyo had never seen Kageyama do that before but he wasn’t about to question him now. Shoyo played along.

“And how did you come across him, huh? Last time I saw Kageyama he was in Miyagi.”

Shoyo’s stared at her in shock. Her words echoed inside Shoyo’s head and he hoped, really hoped his surprise wasn’t visible on his face.

This woman knew Kageyama? How?

And how long ago was this, when she’d seen him in the capital?

“I’m not obliged to tell you,” Shoyo heard himself snap. His voice no doubtedly revealed the sudden panic he felt.

Shoyo had been sure no one but him or Kageyama could break the oath.

But this woman… she knew who Kageyama was. Could she somehow demand anything from the vren? Was she a past owner? Shoyo desperately wanted to look at Kageyama to confirm any of his doubts and thoughts but he felt like he should keep his eyes on the woman. He couldn’t falter now.

His heart, however, was beating loudly in his ears. If she did anything he didn’t like, he would run, he reassured himself inwardly; _‘We can always run.’_

The woman then tilted her head, a hand on her hip as she eyed Kageyama behind him. Shoyo kind of felt like sidestepping; to block her view. Not like he could ever successfully conceal the massive vren behind himself, considering Kageyama’s size.

“Did you swear an oath to this boy?” she asked, tipping her head as she spoke, like she was mocking him. Shoyo narrowed his eyes. Why was she so cocky? He was the one with the biggest vren here.

At least, as Shoyo had expected, Kageyama didn’t reply verbally and he doubted he did so silently behind his back either. The woman sighed and turned her eyes back on Shoyo’s.

“You listen here,” she started, “I don’t care how you got him nor when, but don’t you think for one second that’s a dog. A vren in not a pet, especially not Kageyama or any of his kind, and this one is efficient, skillful and valuable. Not something you waste on small business or whatever personal vendetta you’ve obtained him for,” she spat. Shoyo had to keep himself from taking a step back. She looked angry now.

He watched her take a deep breath, the woman closing her eyes as she pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, collecting herself.

Shoyo wasn’t sure what to reply. This lady was weird.

Should he say that he obviously knew Kageyama wasn’t a pet? That he did have a valid reason? That he still didn’t actually have to tell her shit?

Shoyo stayed silent nonetheless, waiting instead. The woman was clearly blocking the path knowingly, but Shoyo would give her the chance to move. Of course they could walk around her and in between the trees but Shoyo had a bad feeling she would follow. He didn’t want to resort to violence but she had already riled him up. Who did she think she was?

Then her expression suddenly changed and Shoyo’s eyes dropped to the woman’s right hand. She was standing absolutely still but her fingers were moving. In confusion he watched her make three quick gestures and before Shoyo could realize anything Kageyama had moved.

Shoyo stumbled backwards in shock, watching the black vren crouch onto the ground in front of him, growling, back to him. Shoyo was about to ask Kageyama what the hell he was doing, but stayed quiet. A thought in the back of his head told him to be on his toes. Was this woman controlling Kageyama? Shoyo’s eyes were wide, his legs shaking.

Shoyo was considering bolting but stilled when he saw it. The grey vren. It was lying under Kageyama, growling and snarling where it was held in place. It must have… It must have tried to attack, and Kageyama had caught it before it could.

“Wha…. what are you trying to do?!” Shoyo yelled in anger, throwing out his arms in frustration. He glared at the woman, unable to understand why she looked so damn pleased all of a sudden. Her vren had clearly failed.

“Back,” she said quietly instead, Shoyo just being able to pick it up. He heard the grey vren quit snarling in frustration, now only the forest audible around them.

Then Shoyo realized the woman was looking at him; waiting.

Shoyo wanted to growl himself.

“Why should I not ask Kageyama to attack you now? Why are you being stupid?!” he yelled, demanding an answer from her. Shoyo was still on edge, feeling his hands shake by his sides.

“Because my vren would protect me as far as she could. She would die and so would I, yes, but it would be a vicious fight nonetheless. I would say pointless as well.”

Shoyo stared at her, breathing through his nose, before defeatedly mumbling for Kageyama to step back. He watched the grey vren roll to it’s feet and resume the position behind the woman again. Kageyama walked behind Shoyo again, his stance somehow different. Somehow a bit more submissive.

“Who are you?” Shoyo demanded.

“I’m not obliged to tell you,” the woman smiled and Shoyo stared in shock at her now kind smile. What was up with this woman?

“You’re still a child so doubtlessly also stubborn,” she begun again, “so you use Kageyama for whatever it is you planned, but then you sell him back to someone proper. Someone in Miyagi. A Royal vren is…” she suddenly broke off, looking like she couldn’t find the words.

“... not just any vren,” she finished, kind of weakly.

Shoyo stared at her.

And just like that she moved forwards, the grey vren immediately up and walking behind her again. Shoyo tensed up, on his toes, as they passed just on their side. The path was slim; if he reached out with one arm he could’ve touched the grey vren. Shoyo’s eyes were on the woman’s hand but he didn’t see her move them. He couldn’t help but turn around as she passed, watching after her. Neither her nor her vren turned back as they passed through the trees.

When Shoyo was sure they were gone he turned to Kageyama, the vren still lying on the ground. Shoyo raised an eyebrow.

“I think you owe me an explanation,” he said, staring down at him. It was a rarity; to look _down_ at Kageyama and not the opposite. But the position, it had to be some kind of courtesy, right? To lie down like that behind their owners. Shoyo wasn’t sure he’d ever seen it before.

Had he?

Kageyama had certainly never done it but maybe Shoyo had passed a resting owner with a vren lying politely behind, never really noticing. The position didn’t exactly look strange but perhaps a bit proud-like, or disciplined, as was Shoyo’s first thought.

“Her name is Marta. She is a vren handler in Miyagi,” Kageyama said, getting to his feet.

“I see,” Shoyo replied, heading forwards again, “Walk beside me,” he added before asking about the courtesy.

“It is a position a properly trained vren should hold whenever the owner or trainer stands still. It is not very common, or rather, not considered necessary out here. In Miyagi, however, it is expected,” Kageyama explained.

Shoyo nodded slowly.

“So she has… trained you?” he asked, absently picking off a small leaf that fell onto Kageyama’s back.

“Yes. In propriety and manners, as well as code.”

“Code?”

“A gesture, usually of the hand, that conveyors commands,” the vren replied.

“I saw her do something with her fingers,” Shoyo agreed. “So that meant to attack me?” he asked, unknowingly holding his arms around himself. His jacket was still tied around his waist but Shoyo was to lazy to put it on and untie his backpack again.

“It was a training command, actually. She was testing me. The vren would not have attacked you,” Kageyama said, briefly meeting Shoyo’s eyes.

“Oh,” was all Shoyo could come up with as reply. He still thought she was being kind of reckless. She didn’t know Shoyo. What if he had yelled for Kageyama to ‘attack back’ as he thought the command was.

They walked in silence for a while, Shoyo wondering what kind of manners vrens needed to know. He knew they were proud creatures and acted very dignifying. But was all that just from having been taught that behaviour?

No, it couldn’t be. Shoyo doubted all vren breeders and keepers cared about it. Like Kageyama seemed to imply it was a capital thing; something of high status. And out here it just seemed unessasary.

He glanced at Kageyama again. Walking on his toes as discreetly as he could, to reach higher, Shoyo watched the vren’s shoulder blades move under his skin and fur, the clawed hands taking careful but heavy steps on the forest ground. Shoyo was still amazed how he was barely making any noise while the human himself snapped twigs with his shoes and sometimes even tripped on roots and rocks.

Maybe a trainer, like Marta, had taught him that too? Shoyo wondered how long Kageyama had been in her care, in Miyagi. Maybe they spent a lot of time together.

“Did… was she your friend?” he found himself asking. It hadn’t sounded like a stupid question in his head but Kageyama turned to look at him like he was stupid.

“W-what?” the human asked, unknowingly puffing out his chest.

“Nothing,” Kageyama replied quietly, avoiding Shoyo’s eyes. The human stared at him in wonder.

“Was she… bad to you?” he then asked carefully. Was he being insensitive? Shoyo felt clueless.

“No,” the vren replied, falling into step behind the human again. Shoyo was about to tell him to walk beside him, for the hundredth time, but he looked forwards to notice the forest was narrowing a bit.

***-***-***

“It’s not too far to Miyagi now, is it?” Shoyo asked. He was sitting up, knees against his chest, arms around them and leaning back against Kageyama. It had been late at night when they found an empty cave, Shoyo saying it was perfect. It was still getting colder every day but the fire burning in front of him had warmed up the small space a bit already.

Shoyo had been able to stay up later than usual today because he did so yesterday. Because of this he wasn’t really feeling tired yet. He had been holding onto Kageyama when they were walking since it got pitch-dark outside a couple hours ago. He suggested they could travel a little longer by night for once. If he wasn’t tired there was no excuse not keep going.

Shoyo’s thoughts were constantly occupied by his sister. He tried to imagine all the possibilities of work a slave could do. He was already planning multiple ways to search for her inside Miyagi. There had to be a slave-shop, maybe even multiple, and that would be the first place to check. Maybe Kageyama could somehow search for her scent?

Shoyo rubbed his eyes with two fists, sighing. With some inner persuasion Shoyo finally got to his feet, walking over to the fire to put it out. With only the darkness left he held out his hands not to trip over the vren, grabbing hold onto the soft fur and carefully sitting down in his previous position. Shoyo was still clad in all his clothes so he had nothing to sleep on apart from the rock-floor. In his lack of sleepiness, however, he had fetched a couple branches of fir and splayed them on the floor. It created a small bed and Shoyo, while pouting a little, had asked Kageyama to lie beside it. The vren compiled without any complaint, but neither did he look happy. Not like he ever did, though.

Shoyo lay awake against Kageyama for quite a while, even hours into the night, and stared into the darkness.

***-***-***

“Should… should we go around?” Shoyo asked, uncertainly.

They were standing in front of a sign nailed to a tree in the damp forest. It had been raining yesterday and some of Shoyo’s clothes were still wet. He was surprised a cold hadn’t gotten to him yet.

Kageyama had informed him this would be the last small town before Miyagi, and that the road would be busier the closer they got. Shoyo wasn’t as afraid as he initially had been to walk on the highly visible gravel road, but they still kept to the woods. For all he knew someone from Izumitate might still be trailing them. Or rather, they could’ve sent word to Miyagi by dove, that Kageyama was stolen. Because quite basically, he was. Sure, the transporter had died but he was still headed for somewhere, probably to deliver Kageyama to whoever had bought him. Whether that person had paid or not yet, was something Shoyo still stressed about. What if Shoyo somehow got caught by royal guards of Miyagi and the only way he wouldn't be thrown in jail to rot was if he paid for Kageyama. He could only imagine what sort of money a regular _grey_ costed.

Sighing, Shoyo eye’s focused on the sign in front of him again.

Kitagawa, it clearly read. But underneath;

**NO VRENS ALLOWED**

Shoyo had a feeling these signs weren’t too uncommon. He could recall two of the villages south of Yukigaoka that had similar signs put up. Both were tiny villages so Shoyo wasn’t sure someone with a vren would ever pass through either way.

Shoyo tried to absently glance at Kageyama by his side. It would take quite a bit to walk around the town in front of them, but Shoyo was also out of supplies. Water he could find in the multiple rivers everywhere and Kageyama could hunt, no problem. But Shoyo was still dressed too lightly, even with all his clothes.

This all could, of course, be solved by the Royal vren’s special ability. Shoyo was sure Kageyama had told him it took a lot of energy, or something along those lines, to change shape. But no matter how worried he was for Kageyama’s comfort, Shoyo was still curious.

“I will need clothes,” Kageyama replied and Shoyo nodded.

“Can you… find those yourself? When we get closer to the town?” Shoyo asked. He still wasn’t too fond of stealing but perhaps Kageyama could just return the clothes afterwards? Because if not, why shouldn’t Shoyo just keep them for himself? Instead of spending money.

“Yes. Should I go now?” the vren asked, turning to Shoyo. The human glanced at the path ahead of him. He still couldn’t see the town, with the thick forest, but the sign was here so the town had to just be a couple minutes away. So he nodded.

“Okay, but find me when you’ve collected some clothes. You can do that, right?” Shoyo asked. He didn’t really think Kageyama would just disappear but Shoyo still didn’t like the idea of separating, even for a little while. He had grown accustomed to Kageyama, and not only the safety he felt with the vren’s constant protection, but also with his presence. No matter how shitty he was at keeping a conversation. And that was probably not a personal thing, but a vren thing.

Kageyama had disappeared from his side and Shoyo felt kind of naked without the vren, continuing on the path towards Kitagawa. Soon enough the trees got fewer and Shoyo entered onto a small gravel road with two wheat fields on either side. A group of kids passed him when he got closer to town, none of them even eying him as they ran and laughed about something. Two women walking with full baskets of something greeted him kindly as he entered the town, a physical, wooden gate at the entrance. A kid sat there, probably earning money from opening the gate for carriages and horse riders.

The houses looked smaller here, but the layout of the streets was kind of messy and didn’t really make sense to Shoyo. He continued onto what seemed to be the main street, however, constantly looking around for a familiar face and black hair.

There was some commotion by a stand selling thread and Shoyo walked over to look at a game of marbles for a minute. A girl with red, bright hair seemed to be winning. She reminded him of his sister slightly, but this girl was a lot older.

Shoyo straightened up after a while, glancing around himself. Still no Kageyama. The old woman standing by the thread stand looked at him with half-closed eyes. She looked like she was annoyed the kids were playing right beside her stand but that she was tired of telling them off too many times. Shoyo gave her a small smile and continued a bit further. Pears were being sold for barely anything and Shoyo got himself five after tasting the first one. It was incredibly sweet and his backpack was empty anyways.

“Hi,” a voice behind him said, Shoyo turning around with a raised eyebrow. He wasn’t sure the voice had addressed him but as he recognized the man behind him he lit up.

“Hey. Took you long enough,” Shoyo grinned. The vendor behind him huffed loudly, seemingly irritated from being interrupted where he was trying to trick Shoyo into buying small wooden boats.

“I apologize,” Kageyama replied, looking just as stiff as he did last time in his human form. He was wearing a green, thick jacket with white fur on the hood. The pants seemed a bit battered and the shoes ordinary enough.

Shoyo couldn’t wipe the smile off his face from seeing human Kageyama again and grabbed his hand. Pulling him towards the middle of the street Shoyo started telling him about the game of marbles and the amazing pears. Kageyama was silent by his side, listening. It was kind of exciting, walking around with Kageyama. Whenever anyone would look at him Shoyo wanted to snicker loudly; he was the only one who knew Kageyama’s secret.

It wasn’t hard to see, though, Shoyo thought. That Kageyama was… well, handsome. Shoyo decided that this would be something everyone agreed on, yes. Human-Kageyama was just very attractive and tall. His black hair framing his face, the various faded battle-scars, made him look very mysterious in a kind of sexy way-

Shoyo caught himself in his train of thought, blinking.

He swallowed, glancing at the man by his side. Even as he was a little embarrassed Shoyo still didn’t take back his opinion. Kageyama was kind of muscular too, his nose straight and eyes… beautiful.

He was one of those guys Shoyo’s mom would’ve called “a young handsome man who makes the girls giggle and stare”. Shoyo had heard that line before. His mother always convinced him Shoyo himself would grow taller and handsome when he got older; it wasn’t his fault he was a bit slow in the growing part. It just took him longer, and Shoyo had agreed to that.

With some nervous flattering in his stomach Shoyo wondered what his mother would think of him, gazing at Kageyama the way the girls back in his village would’ve done.

***-***-***

Shoyo was sitting on a fence, having bought soup and bread at a cheap price from a stand a minute ago. It tasted kind of bland but Shoyo was pleased enough, hungry as he was. Kageyama ate silently by his side. Either he wasn’t used to eating with his hands or he’d never had bread and soup together before because he had just stuffed his face with the dry bread first, to Shoyo’s amusement. The human was still ripping piece by piece of bread and dunking it into the broth. Kageyama probably didn’t care too much either way.

“So… how does it work?” Shoyo asked, raising the bowl to drink some soup. Kageyama had already finished his. The human-shaped vren turned to look at him.

“You turning human, I mean,” Shoyo elaborated.

Kageyama looked at him in silence. Shoyo grew slightly defensive from the look, frowning. What? Was that a weird thing to ask?

“We change the appearance of our bodies to look like a human's,” Kageyama slowly replied and Shoyo huffed.

“Well, yeah, I got that. But how… does it work? Is it magic?”

Kageyama frowned and Shoyo had a feeling he did it without knowing. He looked kind of concerned.

“I am not sure.”

So it was just unknown how they did it? No one knew? Vrens were a mystery themselves, a creature that didn’t exist on earth before the war. There were countless of theories of how they arrived; some believed they fell from the sky, some said they used to live on the moon and others were sure they just lived in undiscovered parts of the earth.

“Any theories?” Shoyo tried, finishing his bread and the last gulp of soup. He would get his two bronze coins back when he returned the used, wooden bowls and Shoyo put his into Kageyama’s empty one. The vren was quiet for a moment before he spoke.

“Some humans believe it is a curse but… many believe it is just another weapon of ours,” he said.

“That would make sense, I guess,” Shoyo agreed, nodding slowly. He looked at his shoes, the dirty smudges at least having faded a little from the rain. “But what do you think?”

Kageyama looked out towards the wheat field, blue eyes looking almost… frustrated.

“I was born vren and raised vren and I am treated like a vren,” he spoke slowly, Shoyo paying attention to his thick accent yet again,

“Yet I can be human too… but I am still not. I will never be as free as a human and I will never-” he seemed to catch himself on his words, looking quite startled.

“I apologize,” he quickly grunted, as annoyed with himself. Shoyo couldn’t lie and say he wasn’t surprised at the sudden honesty and… humanity in Kageyama’s words. Looking up at the black hair dancing calmly in the wind, a small smile fell onto Shoyo’s lips. He reached over and gently punched Kageyama’s knee.

“Don’t apologize. You know I like it when you speak,” he replied softly, gazing out the field himself.

***-***-***

It was strange, walking around with a human all of a sudden. It was still Kageyama, the same characteristics, but his appearance was incredibly different, to say the least. There were still the similarities, of course, like his eyes, his hair-colour and some of his movement, somehow. His voice was the same too, of course, and was a big part in Shoyo still knowing it was Kageyama by his side.

But when they exited Kitagawa it didn’t take long before the vren turned back. There wasn’t really any use in him staying human, Shoyo supposed. As he had undressed yet again, seemingly with no shame, to remove the clothes Shoyo turned around, trying to ignore the redness and warmth in his cheeks as he pretended to focus on other things. Shoyo suppressed his curiosity and didn’t peek, turning back around only when he heard Kageyama’s low sigh. The sound was almost a growl-like one and he’d heard the noise before, when the vren was stretching, and looked at the large creature in front of him. The clothes were lying in a messy pile on the ground. Shoyo wasn’t sure if it was deliberate or not, but the jacket Kageyama had chosen to steal was very thick.

So Shoyo picked it up, feeling a bit guilty, but put it on. He folded the pants and put the shirt and shoes on top, placing Kageyama’s stolen clothes on a tree stump. Someone would find them eventually.

With a second thought Shoyo placed a single bronze coin in one of the shoes. The jacket was obviously a lot more worth than that but it did ease a little of his guilt.

They traveled through the woods until the sun had set, the orange sky quickly darkening above them. Huddled under another tree Shoyo, for once, wasn’t freezing as badly as the last days. It was thanks to the jacket draped over him. He was still sleeping against Kageyama’s side, the vren’s body shaping a circle around him as usual. The vren didn’t even seem bothered by the sleeping arrangements any longer and just lied down in the centre, under the tree.

Shoyo turned around, careful not to kick the vren again. He couldn’t sleep. With an annoyed sigh he sat up a bit to remove his shoes. Shoyo hated sleeping with shoes, he wasn’t sure why he had attempted to do that now.

He was stressed out. It was as simple as that and it was the reason he couldn’t sleep. It would only be one or two nights left and then they would reach Miyagi.

Shoyo tugged down his jacket-blanket a bit, looking up into the darkness. Kageyama was resting his head on his front paws, apparently more tired than Shoyo. The vren was probably not sleeping yet though. Shoyo had still never caught him sleeping. Maybe he just slept less or it was something he felt conscious about. Maybe he snored really loudly? Shoyo giggled at the thought. A yawn interrupted his giggles and Shoyo huddled a bit closer to the vren. He reached out a hand, digging his fingers into the fur.

Slowly scratching along his side Shoyo’s hand reached Kageyama’s chest, the vren sighing loudly, kind of like… a dog. Shoyo kept his fingers there, listening to the even, barely audible breathing of the creature next to him. Then a low growling sound surprised him.

Shoyo’s hand slowly stilled, the low rumbling sound dying with it. Blinking in the darkness Shoyo resumed his massage and in just a little while the rumbling was back. Kageyama had to be asleep. There was no way the vren would be knowingly _purring_ in enjoyment. Shoyo had to press his lips tightly together, forcing himself to calm down and absolutely not laugh. There wasn’t really anything to laugh about.

It was just that… Kageyama was such a proud person, even for a vren it seemed, and here he was, purring like a kitten from being scratched. Or rather, a very, very large and dangerous kitten with huge, long claws and teeth that could crush bones. The purring was low in tune too, Shoyo almost feeling like the ground was vibrating beneath him.

The human successfully contained his laughter but his smile stayed, even as he grew more tired. Eventually Shoyo fell asleep as well, fingers still holding onto the black fur.

***-***-***

The entirety of the following day was spent traveling. Apparently walking between two smaller mountains would save time, according to Kageyama. They were following a small stream, walking on rocks and between heather. There were few trees around in the valley and the ones that stood looked like they were dying. Shoyo had overheard a woman back in Kitagawa claiming October had arrived. Shoyo had figured so himself considering the leaves were starting to fall from the birch trees.

Shoyo placed his hands on his knees as he started walking up a rocky part, Kageyama climbing on his side. When they reached the top Shoyo gazed out and gasped. He could see a city. A massive city.

“Is that Miyagi?” he asked Kageyama, even though he had no idea what other city it could be.

Shoyo could see the many houses spread around the area, many cramped around the lake of Miyagi in the west. But the castle was the most eye catching of the city. The stone wall around it had to be metres high, containing a colorful garden, it looked like, before the actual castle itself stood proudly in the middle. Two massive towers were built on both ends, standing tall over the city. Colorful banners in red and gold were hung from walls of the castle, Shoyo recognizing the king’s symbol of the roaring bear.

The town of Miyagi was grand, Shoyo’s mouth having fallen into a small ‘o’ as he stared at what he could see from this distance. His heartbeat wasn’t slowing down in the slightest and Shoyo took a deep breath, clenching his fists at his sides.

This was it.


	5. Miyagi

The clouds were grey above them, a mist crawling in over the lake to the east of Miyagi. The water continued as a slim river through the town, Shoyo eyeing the metal bars of the gate where the water could pass through. They were just outside the walls of the town, Kageyama having explained an easy way to get into the castle from this side.

“Show me,” Shoyo had said.

Shoyo needed a way to get inside. He couldn’t stop pretending Natsu and Izumi would be just fine and walking around in town. All slaves but just a very few were brought into the castle to work. Even if it was hard to get inside, it was most likely where they would be. And Shoyo couldn’t wait around any longer; he would search the place most possible first. He had to.

With a gulp, Shoyo neared the river and the bars. He wouldn’t fit between those bars and he wondered if there was a possibility to swim beneath somehow. The stream was strong and Shoyo couldn’t help but to inhale deeply, as if he was already beneath water.

“This way,” Kageyama said behind him, Shoyo turning around, confused. When Kageyama had explained there was a way into the castle with the water Shoyo had assumed this was it.

So the river wasn’t the way inside?

The vren made sure Shoyo was following again before they continued further towards a wooden building with a guard tower on top. It was standing outside the walls, several wooden beams attached to the stone wall for support. But Shoyo could very well see the crossbow, even from here, pointing downwards if anyone tried to climb the beams. That way was a no go.

Shoyo looked forwards where he watched Kageyama crouch down close to the ground, the human getting down into a crouched stance as well. He followed the vren around the building, looking around them. Shoyo could hear two muffled voices belonging to two men above them, probably on watch in the guard tower. They would be able to spot any ships coming on the lake but would be oblivious to anyone sneaking just below them. With Kageyama in lead they passed along the wall and now under the house, directly under the two men on watch.

Then Shoyo saw it, an opening under the wooden structure. It was slim and dark, but could surely fit a grown person crouching. Kageyama turned to briefly look at Shoyo, before he said;

“It is an old escape tunnel,” he whispered, waiting for Shoyo to nod before he crawled inside. It was terribly dark but some light was making it’s way inside from behind them. But most noticeably was the water on the ground. The mud beneath them was slippery and Shoyo knocked his foot against something hard; a rock perhaps.

If Shoyo had ever felt really claustrophobic, it was now. The rocky walls of the tunnel beneath ground were roughly dug out and several roots grew from above them. Shoyo could see Kageyama’s body in front of him and sort of wished he could reach out and grab for his tail. Just to hold on to something. He couldn’t hear much except the sound of the river which wouldn’t be too far to their left.

The tunnel was getting wider though, and Shoyo could soon stand. But it also mean he had water up to his hip. They had walked for a little while by now and Shoyo was sure they were inside the town’s walls. Just a little longer and then they would be beneath the castle too.

Shoyo suddenly gasped as he fell forwards, his feet getting stuck on something beneath the muddy water. He coughed as he got water in his lungs, stumbling to get to his feet. Kageyama was beside him instantly, Shoyo climbing on his side.

“S-sorry,” he coughed, trying to do so quietly. He was pretty sure no one would be able to heard them but he didn’t want to risk it. Kageyama didn’t say anything but stayed on his side until Shoyo straightened up. The human could feel a bruise or scratch forming on his right knee; it hurt.

Then the ground suddenly went uphill and Shoyo stared at the sudden parting of the tunnel. The left was lower down in height and water was covering the ground, the stream visibly coming from that way. The other way, to the right, was the one climbing upwards and the way Kageyama was going. Shoyo hurried after him, fingers and clothes now terribly muddy. His backpack momentarily caught onto a root above him and Shoyo cursed lightly, voice still rough from the water earlier.

Kageyama then stopped a couple metres forwards. The tunnel was very thin and there was mostly mud around them; no water any more.

“This hatch leads into the cellar of the knights old armory. The room will most likely be empty but things could have changed since I was here,” Kageyama whispered, looking upwards. Shoyo couldn’t see anything in the darkness and wiggled his way beside Kageyama, holding onto him as he reached up and could feel wood against his fingers.

“If the room is still unused it should be safe to climb up here at night. The slaves chamber is in the west, on the cellar floor” Kageyama gently leaned a bit to the left to show which way.

“That… seems easy enough,” Shoyo nodded to himself. He couldn’t hear any voices above them so the room was probably still unused then. It was still day-time, just a couple hours after lunch, and Shoyo would have to wait until nightfall.

“Okay, let’s get out of here,” Shoyo nodded, turning back around. A wave of water moved from the left tunnel, Shoyo frowning a bit from the push. He hurried through the tunnel and after a couple minutes of falling and stumbling he was outside. Drenched and cold, but Kageyama had showed him like he asked.

A way in.

***-***-***

Shoyo sat by the fire, his clothes dry by now since hanging them above the flames. He had burned the sleeve of his shirt a little bit, but he couldn't care less about that now. He was nervous, his pulse quick and knee jumping where he sat. Kageyama was lying by his side, looking out into the forest. They were sat with their backs to a massive mountain wall but still had to be on the lookout. Miyagi was the capital and this was the most crowded area of their land; anyone could come by any second.

Shoyo watched Kageyama’s ears twitch back and forth, the vren turning his head only a little every now and then. The sun had disappeared a little while ago, only the fading orange left in it’s trail over the horizon.

Shoyo had made up his mind, his stomach feeling fluttery as he slowly scrambled to his feet. He grabbed his jacket that hung over the fire, deciding it was dry enough, and rolled it into a ball. It just barely fit inside his backpack, and he turned to the tree on his side. Pushing his backpack into the ground he then covered it with some leaves, now not visible for anyone just passing. Shoyo was now freezing in only his undershirt and thin jacket from back home, but it would have to do. He couldn’t wear the thick jacket inside the tunnel again nor his backpack. It would just slow him down and catch on the roots again.

Kageyama was looking at him as Shoyo turned around, pressing his lips together.

He took a deep breath, clearing his throat;

“I, Shoyo Hinata, hereby set you, Kageyama Tobio, free,” Shoyo said, his voice only shaking a little.

Silence.

Kageyama didn’t move nor did Shoyo, the wind loud above them. Some trees creaked tiredly and the fire crackled. There were no crickets this far north, or perhaps they had disappeared for the winter.

Then the large vren stood up, Shoyo instinctively about to take a step back. He caught himself, clenching his fists. He didn’t have to be afraid of Kageyama, he trusted the vren and he had to show him that.

“Why?” the vren asked, his eyes now larger than usual. He was surprised, Shoyo could tell, but also confused. Something that Shoyo also had gathered that Kageyama didn’t like; when he didn’t understand something.

“Because I know you don’t want to go in there,” Shoyo admitted, “We could get caught, I could fail, and you would just be back in the hands of some awful owner or… to whoever it is you’re clearly scared of-” Shoyo said, quieting as the vren started growling.

“I am not scared,” Kageyama growled, his teeth shining in the light from the fire. Shoyo convinced himself to calm down again. He didn’t need to be scared of him.

“I don’t mean in that sense,” he explained, biting his lip. “It’s just that… I don’t know your story, I don’t know what you’ve been through or what’ve happened to you. But you’re a Royal vren. As in _Royal_ , as in, belonging to the king. I don’t know what that means- Hell, I don’t know anything about even vrens in general,” Shoyo said, the words coming out in a pathetic laugh.

He looked down at the ground, wiggling his toes in his shoes as he continued; “But I don’t need to keep you here. If I find my sister and Izumi inside I can now get them out, thanks to the tunnel. As long as I find them, it’s fine.”

Kageyama slowly took two steps around Shoyo, still eyeing him. The human nervously laughed.

“Are you going to attack me? Because I forced you to come with me this far?” he asked, attempting to make it sound like a joke. Even a deaf person could hear the fear in Shoyo’s voice however. And the human realized, that even then and there, as much time as he had spent with Kageyama; that he was still scared of him. Not too much any longer, really, but his instincts still wouldn’t go away since the first time he had heard the word vren.

Kageyama sighed in front of him. Shoyo felt a little embarrassed by that, by his fear, avoiding the vren’s eyes. He wondered if he should apologize.

“I need to go,” he said instead, breathing deeply. Shoyo walked up to the fire, kicking the rocks over and stomping the flames out. He stared at the small specks of light in the ash, all that was left of the fire. It felt like he still had a chance to get the fire going again. To bring it back.

Clearing his head again Shoyo forced himself to instead step over the remains of the fire, straightening up as he looked through the forest, the city ahead of him.

“Thank you for helping me this far. I know it wasn’t voluntarily but still-” Shoyo said, stopping his voice there. He could feel the dumb need to cry and suppressed it, blinking and turning his head so Kageyama couldn’t see him.

“Maybe I’ll see you around,” he said after a moment, since the vren wasn’t replying. Shoyo turned to look behind him, finding Kageyama still staring at him. Then the vren nodded. The corners of Shoyo’s lips twitched and the human turned back, only staggering for a moment before he moved his legs. He couldn’t ignore the urge a couple metres later, however, to turn back and look behind him. He stared at the mountain wall and the now dead fire, the tree where he hid his backpack under.

But Kageyama was gone.

***-***-***

Shoyo was pressed against the wooden building that was the watchtower, hearing voices above him. Of course they were guarding at night too, he reminded himself. With a silent but deep breath Shoyo collected himself. The space just in front of the entrance of the tunnel was probably visible to the guards if they decided to look down over the railing. Shoyo hurried inside and didn’t hear anything behind him, so he figured he’d succeeded.

That was one step cleared, now he only needed to get into the castle and then actually find his sister.

As he waded through the dirty water, vision now completely black, he shook his head at how crazy this all was. Just a couple months ago everything had been normal. Shoyo had worried about school and the farmer’s bullies of sons. It all seemed so incredibly unimportant right now.

And if only he had discovered Kageyama just a damn day earlier, or just a couple hours maybe. Then maybe it would all still be fine and the vren could’ve protected his family and friends from the mountain people. They would be back in Yukigaoka and everything would be fine.

Now here Shoyo was, water up to his stomach as he was about to break into the damn kingdom of Miyagi to steal a slave or two. He had set free his last chance of ever escaping if he was caught. Shoyo still had his pocket knife tied to his waist but he was no fighter. He wouldn’t be able to fend off anyone; these guards were trained in combat and Shoyo had never even punched someone seriously. Sure, he and Izumi had been in a couple of fights, friendly or not, but this was reality and Shoyo would be a liar if he said he wasn’t scared.

And Kageyama wasn’t there anymore.

No matter how just he wanted to be and how it really felt like the best thing to do, to set the vren free… Shoyo couldn’t help but to regret it now. Then again, he could regret it all he wanted because it wouldn’t change anything. It was selfish of him, to wish Kageyama was there.

Because how, in which way, was he any better than the kingdom who had slaves when Shoyo was dragging one across the damn country himself.

A wave of water hit him in his face and Shoyo grunted, continuing to trail his fingers on the walls to know where he was going. He had to focus.

Soon enough the fork in the tunnel appeared and Shoyo turned right, climbing upwards onto the sturdier ground.

He sat under the hatch for a couple minutes, listening and making sure no one was above him, calming his heart as much as he could. It was beating wildly and no matter how much he tried breathing slower or thought about other things, he couldn’t calm down. He would just have to do this on these nerves, he decided. If anything it probably made him run faster, he guessed.

Shoyo counted to three before he reached up and pushed, carefully. He was so eager to look inside the room that he got mud in his eyes from moving the door. Shoyo had to let go of the damn hatch to clear his eyes, taking another minute. The second time he kept his head bent down, carefully pushing on the door. It was heavy and Shoyo imagined something was on top of it, covering it.

It was supposed to be an old, hidden escape route, after all.

Shoyo climbed with his feet on the muddy wall, slipping his torso through the door. Looking around the room it seemed abandoned, all right. There was light coming from under the door of the room, enough light for Shoyo to be able to make out the content of the room.

It was small, just a bit bigger than a food cellar. Two shelves were on either side of the room, an old rusty helmet on one shelf. Other than that it looked empty. A thick carpet was what had been covering the hatch, Shoyo staring at where it had been pushed aside. After looking around the room he finally dared to open the hatch fully and climb up.

As gently as he could Shoyo closed the hatch door, but it still sounded loud to him in the otherwise silence. He listened for a couple seconds before covering the door with the rug again. With the slim strip of light he got Shoyo noticed he was tracking mud on the cold, stone floor. He tried to shake his hair free, brush off his shirt and pants enough but his shoes, he decided, had to go. He would be tracking muddy steps everywhere otherwise; the dumbest thing a thief could do.

Shoyo placed them in the corner of the room, now only in his worn socks. They didn’t exactly smell like roses either but Shoyo ignored it; at least he would be able to move more quietly on only his feet.

He crept up to the door, trying to catch a glimpse through the keyhole. All he could see was another wall, a torch somewhere near casting moving shadows on the wall. Shoyo held his ear against the door, focusing and listening, and only put his hand on the handle when he was sure it was quiet.

The door was creaking incredibly loudly, sounding like an old cat dying or something and Shoyo cursed inwardly over and over again. Then he heard footsteps.

Quickly shutting the door again, the hinges now at least quiet, he sprinted to stand behind the door. If anyone had heard him and would open the door they at least wouldn’t see him. That was if they didn’t check behind the door, of course.

Shoyo had his lips pressed tightly together as he stared into the darkness of the room, listening to the steps coming closer, and closer and closer. With each step there was the rustling of metal; armour probably. So a knight then. Or maybe all guards were always this equipped and prepared. It was the kingdom after all.

Shoyo unclenched his muscles as he heard the person passing, absently leaning back against the shelf.

Which moved behind his back.

Shoyo’s eyes widened and he was quick enough to turn to watch something falling towards him. In less than a second he had caught the old metal helmet, juggling with it for a moment before holding it to his chest. Shoyo gaped into the silence in shock, listening for footsteps. He couldn’t hear any.

Had the person stopped or passed?

Shoyo spent a good 10 minutes inside the old armory after that. The falling helmet had spooked him and he was wondering if it was possible to have a heart attack at the age of 17 after all. But soon enough he calmed down and he never heard any steps return. Shoyo had carefully, very carefully, put the damn helmet back on the shelf and now moved for the door again.

He had been listening and he hadn’t heard anyone. It was time to move.

The door creaked just as loudly this time and Shoyo was biting his lip so hard it might bleed, like it would somehow help. But when the gap was big enough for him to slip outside Shoyo did.

The hallway outside was long, torches lit along the walls. Shoyo looked back at the door he came from, where an old sign hung, not exactly straight.

ARMORY

Shoyo continued forwards and stopped to listen inside the next door that said DEFENSE but couldn’t hear anything. There were two more doors left and Shoyo continued past both, eager to look around the corner. Very, very carefully he did so but couldn’t see anyone. There were two doors on either side and in front of him a stair case. Shoyo couldn’t see any signs near the stairs nor on either of these two doors. But if he had to guess the slaves wouldn’t be kept on an upper floor. So downwards it was.

The stairs were long, Shoyo briefly looked upwards to see many stairs continuing far up. Which meant he was probably in one of the tower buildings. With quiet steps he toed down the cold, stone floors. It was still a lot warmer than outside and Shoyo wasn’t feeling too cold, not that his comfort really mattered right now.

While still on the steps of the stairs he could suddenly hear voices. Shoyo stilled, listening. Two men, it sounded like. He couldn’t make out the words and Shoyo carefully took the last step of the stairs, gazing into the hallway in front of him and to the left and right. Fewer torches were lit here but the area seemed larger.

“Shut up, you pig!” one of the men suddenly laughed, loud enough for Shoyo to hear, and he was sure the voice was coming from the right. Carefully making his way forwards he got to the corner where he could spot a hallway similar to the one above, where he had come from. Which meant the escape tunnel would actually be about this height or above him and to the right, compared to this cellar level.

The first door had a sign with simply a P on it, Shoyo unsure what that meant. He pushed his ear against it without hearing anything. Unless a door came up with the literal words of SLAVE HOUSE or something Shoyo would have to start looking inside all doors without any signs. He continued along the hallway where neither of the doors had any signs. Cursing inwardly he reached the end and carefully, very carefully, peeked behind the wall. The voices of the two men had grown louder so they should be either inside a room here or in the hallway.

But then Shoyo could see them, sitting there in the hallway on the floor. They were clad in leather armour, it looked like. Not something that would stop any swords but the armour was probably more agile and lighter.

They were quite far down the hallway and would most likely not notice Shoyo, with both having their heads turned to each other.

“-she’s too kind for him. I don’t see how mother thinks it’s a good idea. Maybe she’s gone mad,” one of the guards said, clearly frustrated about something.

“Or she’s just desperate, Hans. You have to think of it from her point of view. And Yuna is pretty, so she can get something better than me.”

“I wish she wasn’t. I’d rather she marry you, at least I know you would be nice to her,” the guy replied.

“Thanks, I guess. But less talk about Yuna, tell me about Tess-”

Shoyo carefully turned back, the two mean clearly distracted by their conversation. Maybe they were supposed to do the guarding job a bit better, and walk around these hallways. Shoyo was glad slackers existed, even in the castle.

Back at the staircase Shoyo picked left instead. He wouldn’t be able to go further right with the two guards blocking the rest of the right side. If it came to it he would have to create a distraction to move them, if needed. Kageyama had said the slaves quarters should be in the west, right? Hopefully that hadn’t changed.

The hallway to the left was far more spooky and darker. This part looked old and the stony floor was rough. What had Shoyo frowning, however, was how there were five torches positioned along the hallway on the wall, but only one lit.

Collecting himself, he sneaked forwards. Luckily for his small frame and shoe-less feet his steps weren’t heard at all. Shoyo looked at the first door which said CLOSET and he instantly got his hopes up. Maybe it was the closet for the slave’s clothes. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.

The next door didn’t have a sign but two holes for nails, indicating the sign had been removed. As Shoyo reached the other door, the wood looking old and teared near the handle, he froze.

He could hear voices, but just barely, from inside. And what made his pulse quicken was that the voices were whispering. He slowly crawled closer to press his ear to the door, hoping no one would suddenly push it open on him.

“-told you we can trust him! How many times do I have to tell you,” someone hissed loudly, probably not standing too far from the door.

“I’ve told you already. I’m not going,” someone replied, sounding like they were crying. It was a child, Shoyo was sure of it.

“Let him choose, Bokuto,” someone, a girl, pleaded in a hushed voice. Someone, presumably this Bokuto, groaned in frustration.

“I promise you all, this is not a fluke. Akaashi will be there tomorrow. We can trust him,” the guy whispered as loudly as whispering went.

Shoyo had an idea what they might be talking about. If they actually were slaves… Shoyo carefully moved to look into the keyhole, discovering it to be covered with something. The sudden noise of someone touching the door on the other side had Shoyo on his toes in a second, pushing himself back against the wall. Then the door was opening.

“This is the only chance you’ll get. Those who dare escape for their freedom-” the boy, probably only a couple years older than Shoyo stared down at him. His hair looked weird, was all Shoyo could think as they stared at each other in shock.

“W-w-who are you!?” the boy then finally hissed, Shoyo suddenly seeing the many faces behind the boy. A girl, probably the boy’s age, stepped forwards with a shard of glass in her hand, pointing it towards Shoyo who came to his senses again.

“Are-are you being kept here?” was all his mouth managed to say in his surprise.

“What?” Bokuto whispered, clearly just as confused as Shoyo. The girl moved faster and took a tight grip of Shoyo’s shirt, hauling him to his feet and pushing him inside. Someone must’ve closed the door again because inside it was dark. The only light that reached inside the room was from under the door.

“Who are you?” the girl asked in a collected voice, yet still whispering. Shoyo stared around at all the kids he could see, all of them wearing the same clothes; grey rags. His eyes were quickly scanning the hall which had to be a sleeping hall for these kids. Worn blankets were spread around the floor and hammocks hung from the low ceiling.

And then Shoyo caught a pair of familiar eyes in the corner of the room. And he couldn’t help the tears that immediately surfaced because he was sure. In a second, he was sure.

It was her. It was Natsu. His sister. It was her.

***-***-***

She was crying now. They were both crying. He held her as tightly as he managed without strangling the air from her, stroking her dirty hair and whispering against it. She smelled bad but so did the other kids too. The girl had taken a step back, looking back and forth from Shoyo and Natsu to Bokuto.

“It’s okay, it’s okay now. Shhh” Shoyo whispered and cried at the same time, his sister sat in front of him on her knees. He dried his tears on the back of his arm, briefly looking up at Bokuto again, taking a deep breath. No matter how much he just wanted to talk to his sister now he knew they had to get out. Then they would have time. Not now.

“I came here to g-get my sister. There’s a way out. I’ll show you,” Shoyo said, his voice still shaky from the tears. The boy’s eyes lit up, Bokuto looking at the other girl. She nodded.

“How?” Bokuto asked Shoyo who still held tightly onto his sister who was bawling her eyes out into his shirt. She was so cold, he noted. Too cold.

“There’s an old escape tunnel, inside the old armory. It leads outside into the forest,” he explained, clearing his voice, trying to collect himself.

“It leads out-outside?” Bokuto replied, sounding shocked. He looked at the girl again.

“It sounds too damn good to be true, Bokuto. What if he’s one of Kenneth’s, huh? Or worse, he’s sent by Prince Arata to trick us,” the girl hissed, back to glaring at Shoyo.

“He-” a small voice started, Shoyo looking down at his sister.

“He-he’s not either of those. It’s m-m-m-my b-b-b-brother,” Natsu stuttered, Shoyo stroking her hair again. What had they done to her? Even with all her hair covering his face he could see more than two scars on her right cheek.

“I’m taking this chance, damn it. I’ll die for freedom,” Bokuto hissed again, Shoyo now seeing that some of the other kids nodded around him.

“Please, it’ worth a shot. Let’ go,” a boy with a strong accent said, probably Natsu’s age. Shoyo found himself nodding too and carefully stood up, bringing Natsu with him.

Bokuto walked to the door again, grabbing something that looked like plank with nails sticking out at the end, and pointed it at Shoyo. The orange-haired stopped in his tracks staring at the boy.

Then Bokuto grinned, just slightly. It looked like there was a massive fire burning behind the boy’s eyes.

“Show us the way.”

Because Shoyo was the first in the tow he wasn’t sure all the kids were coming or not. He understood there had to be a struggle of some sort. If they were caught Shoyo would surely be done for; he knew that. But what about the slaves? Would they be killed or punished? Shoyo took a deep breath. He would do all in his might to get Natsu to freedom. With that thought in mind Shoyo’s legs weren’t shaking as much any longer.

One of the kids, a young boy, had a plank tied to his leg, probably having broken it. It was enough noise, however, every time he took a step for Shoyo to flinch with each sound of wood against stone. He turned and stared at the boy who looked close to dying out of fright. Bokuto, however, must’ve thought the same thing as Shoyo because he walked further up his place in the long line of kids and got the boy to jump onto his back. Perhaps it was a risk, perhaps it helped, Shoyo turned back forwards as they neared the end of the hallway. As he gazed around the wall he still couldn't see anyone.

It wouldn’t be too far left. Just through this hallway, down the stairs, two hallways and then there. There were a lot of kids, however, and the line of them created a long caterpillar, all kids couched to make less noise. Shoyo quickened his steps just a little, focusing to listen for the men’s voices.

He couldn’t hear them any longer.

Something in the back of his head told him to hurry up.

Shoyo, with Natsu right behind, made it down the stairs first. Two blonde twins were right behind, around Shoyo’s age, and following was a black-haired girl or boy, Shoyo couldn’t tell. But every time he turned around their eyes were on him, large and full of fear.

The hallway down the stairs was still empty and Shoyo felt his heart jump as the next was too. And the door was there, _right there_. ARMORY. Right in front of him.

Shoyo slid his fingers over the old handle, carefully twisting and pulling on the door.

It didn’t budge.

His stomach froze as he stared at the wood in front of him.

Shoyo tried again, a frown on his face, and he tugged onto the handle. Nothing. It seemed to be stuck. Taking a deep breath he pushed his foot against the wall and pulled on the handle again.

And it moved open quickly. Shoyo stared inside the room, appearing just like it had before. He stared at a small metal clasp that must’ve fallen closed when he left the room earlier. Lucky for him it had been weak and came off the door with only a bit of strength put into it.

The light from the torches lit up the room and Shoyo held open the door as kids passed him and inside. He asked a boy to hold the door and entered, pushing the carpet to the side to uncover the hatch.

“Oh,” someone breathed and Shoyo ignored it, lifting the door to reveal the tunnel.

“I’ll go first and show-” Shoyo begun but stopped, turning to Natsu.

“Wait, where is Izumi?” he asked, watching her eyes widen. Maybe, in the shock of it all, she had forgotten about him too? Then her face fell.

“Prince Arata t-t-t-t-t-took h-him,” she stuttered again and Shoyo frowned.

“Who? The prince?” he asked. Their mother hadn’t been one to worship the grounds Miyagi’s royal family walked on so Shoyo didn’t have the best of knowledge about the royal family. He knew who they were and had seen their faces, but wasn't good with their actual names.

“He’s a bastard prince but still a prince,” Bokuto replied for him, now the one holding the door as more kids hurried inside the room. “But he took Izumi, which means Izumi’s gone. There’s no use killing yourself over nothing,” he insisted.

Shoyo glared at him. “It’s not useless, he’s my friend-” he began, hissing, but a tug on his sleeve had him looking down. Natsu stared up at him, shaking her head.

Eventually Shoyo gave up and climbed down into the hole. He held out his hands to support Natsu down and asked Bokuto to follow so he could help the rest of the kids down. The tunnel was just as dark as before and Shoyo listened to the water running ahead of them.

He still couldn’t believe it. He had Natsu and he was on his way outside.

They reached the deep part, the water now up to Shoyo’s shoulders. He hadn’t noticed it before but he did now; the water was rising. Wherever it was coming from in that tunnel leading to the left, it was getting more and moving faster. The stream was slightly stronger and Shoyo walked forwards on the bottom, watching Natsu swim behind him. The twins followed and both seemed able to swim as well. Shoyo couldn’t stop to check on the other kids and continued forwards, now reaching the muddy ground.

The exit would be right there, they were so close.

He stopped a couple metres in front of the entrance of the tunnel, just to listen. He couldn’t hear any voices but he was also a bit too far away. At the entrance, however, he could hear the guards talking again, almost sighing in relief.

Turning around he signed for everyone to be quiet, not like they already weren’t but Shoyo made sure nonetheless. With his wet clothes he crawled beneath the slim opening, not even daring to look up, and then passed along the wall. He could see the forest, it was right there.

But Shoyo had already made up his mind more than a minute ago. He could see the relief on Natsu’s face as she stared at the forest, the twins behind her wide-eyed too.

“Natsu, go in there and hide. Stay with the other kids, but I have to go back. I can’t leave Izumi. Bokuto seemed to know where he was-”

“You’re mad,” Natsu hissed, tugging on his clothes again. “Let’s j-j-j-just go, brother,” she pleaded, both of them being shoved a bit to the side by the twins who suddenly spurted for the forest. Shoyo stumbled a little, quickly gazing up towards the tower to make sure no one had heard or seen that. The two men seemed to be talking like usual and he relaxed, turning back to Natsu.

“I have to. I promised Yukitaka-san I would bring you both back,” Shoyo explained, loosening Natsu’s grip on his shirt. She was about to cry again, he could tell. Shoyo smiled.

“I have to try, Natsu, okay? But I’ll be back soon, I promise,” he assured her, leaning down to kiss her forehead. He and his sister rarely showed affection to each other back in the village. They were constantly fighting and Shoyo honestly couldn’t remember the last time he even hugged her, apart from today.

She was gazing up at his face, her lip trembling. Then she reached out and pushed his chest, Shoyo caught of guard.

“You better come back,” she demanded before she turned to the forest.

Shoyo couldn’t help but to grin again. She was safe, he knew that now as he watched her follow another kid into the woods. He passed the rest of the group inside the tunnel, meeting the older girl and then lastly Bokuto, carrying the kid with the broken leg. Bokuto frowned at him as they met.

“Don’t tell me you’re going back. We got all of them-”

“I promised Izumi’s parents I would bring him back too. I have to try,” Shoyo insisted. Bokuto sighed.

“He was taken by Prince Arata yesterday. It’s too late now, he’s dead,” Bokuto tried but Shoyo didn’t listen. He wasn’t sure what this Prince wanted with Izumi but Shoyo wasn’t budging now, not when there was still a chance.

“Where is he?” he asked Bokuto. The young boy in his arms started pointing to the exit of the tunnel and Bokuto cursed.

“Fuck. Okay, he would probably be in the prince’s dream room, it’s on the same floor as ours. There are usually two guards watching the right hallway, they’re supposed to be on guard but if it’s Eli and Hans you’re good. They’re lazy and just sits around. There’s a door in the hallway straight in front of the stairs. It’s only got one letter on it, I can’t remember which-”

“P” the young boy replied in his arms, Shoyo looking down at him. Bokuto cleared his throat, meeting Shoyo’s eyes again.

“I’m sorry but I don’t think Izumi will be alive. It’s a death sentence going up back there,” Bokuto said but Shoyo had heard enough. He shimmied past the two, facing the tunnel again.

***-***-***

The water somehow felt colder than before. When climbing up into the old armoury again Shoyo realized he had forgotten his shoes, staring at them in the corner of the room. Shoyo was tired, his shoulders felt heavy and he had several bruises from the tunnel by now. But he had to do this. He had to find Izumi too.

Shoyo wasn’t waiting as long this time and had to squeeze out the water of his clothes to hurry the process of not dripping all over the place. He exited the room and hurried along the hallway, still not hearing anyone.

The way to the door Shoyo had already seen went smoothly and he reached it, staring at the P. He still didn’t understand what it meant. Prince, perhaps? But weren’t there more than one prince in the kingdom family. And Bokuto had said he was a bastard too. What was it he had called the room. The dream room?

Shoyo fit his ear against the door. He had listened to it earlier, he was sure, and heard nothing. And this time too; silence, nothing.

Until there was a small bumping sound. Shoyo’s eyes widened. He spent another minute listening, another quiet bump being heard again. With careful fingers he grabbed the handle, the metal somehow warm. Shoyo didn’t pay any mind to it and carefully twisted it, the door slowly opening as he pulled. The hinges at least seemed to be oiled because it didn’t make any noise at all, to his luck.

It was quite dark inside but for once Shoyo could see, only because of the weak light coming from an oil lamp sitting on the floor. Behind the light were metal bars.

He somehow found himself holding his breath, perhaps out of instinct, because Shoyo could suddenly recognize a feeling. A horrible feeling. The same one he had felt when he first found Kageyama;

He could _feel_ something watching him. He wasn’t sure it was a something or a someone but his body was freezing up as his eyes quickly scanned the room.

The metal bars. They were cages reaching up to the ceiling. _Several_ cages, panning across the room. Shoyo moved again, because suddenly he saw it. The body on the ground in the cage directly in front of him. The lock consisted of a simple clasp and in seconds he had pushed the door open, hurrying inside. The dirty blonde hair, the skinny shape, he recognized Izumi’s body immediately.

“Izumi,” Shoyo heard himself cry quietly, shaking fingers reaching for his body.

Because Izumi wasn’t moving. He was lying on his stomach, arms stretched out towards the wall where they were tied by thick, black chains. Shoyo could see the blood, even in the darkness, and what remained of Izumi’s legs. There was… parts of his skin, of his right leg spread around and the white of his bone was visible. Shoyo couldn’t tear his eyes away, as much as he felt the need to throw up.

Izumi’s left leg was cut just under the knee, not attached to his body any longer. Izumi wasn’t moving and when Shoyo’s fingers reached his naked shoulder he could feel the coldness of his skin.

He was unmistakably dead.

“Izumi,” he cried again, glancing over his body just one more time. Shoyo shut his eyes.

He had to get out of here.

With shaky legs and the contents of his stomach turning he stood up again, turning towards the door.

Then he heard the low growl coming to his right. Having stilled in his steps Shoyo slowly turned his head. He couldn’t see anyone, anything. Then he caught the eyes and the shining white teeth in the cage one over from the one he was inside.

Shoyo could immediately tell it was a dog, a big dog. And in a second it started barking loudly, Shoyo jumping.

His brain didn’t really have time to catch up with what was happening but Shoyo’s eyes widened as he heard more than one dog suddenly waking up and barking just as loudly. This was a damn kennel or something. The large, almost hairless dogs were throwing themselves against the bars of the cages, trying to get to him. It had Shoyo briskly walking towards the exit of the cage he had walked into. Not because of his fear for the other dogs, but because he heard a dog _just_ behind him.

Shoyo was only a second faster than the dog that had slept in the cage he had walked into, grabbing the door and trying to shut it. The dog was still quick enough, shoving it’s head outside, trying to bite Shoyo where he was pushing on the door to close it.

He aimed a kick towards the dog’s head, the barking inside loud and echoing in the hallways. The damn dog wouldn’t give up, trying desperately to get through the door and Shoyo gasped as he heard the scramble of feet.

“It’s the damn dogs again,” someone yelled and Shoyo snapped his head to the left, seeing the shadow of the two men walking.

Fuck.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Shoyo took his chance, giving the dog a last, hard kick, still shoe-less, straight in it’s face. Then he ran for it, heart in his throat. He was probably making some noise by now, sprinting for the stairs, grabbing onto the walls. His legs weren’t stopping and he didn’t want them to.

Shoyo didn’t make into the armory, however. The dog was behind him, it’s claws clicking against the stone floor, and Shoyo knew, just a second before it happened, that the dog would catch up.

The big body of the hound was on him like it only had one goal; to kill him. It bit onto his shoulders, Shoyo half turning to punch at is as they hit the wall. The dog flew back just a bit, Shoyo must’ve hit it’s eye or something because it wailed loudly. He only had a second to breathe before the dog jumped on him again. He couldn’t suppress the scream of pain as the dog grabbed his leg, just above his ankle, teeth digging into his flesh.

It hurt like nothing else, his hands coming down to start tugging at the short ears of the dog. The animal, however, didn’t seem to care and started shaking it’s head, Shoyo’s skin still beneath it’s teeth. The human gasped in pain, being pulled forwards over the floor. Shoyo raised his foot, his heart beating faster than ever, and aimed a kick with his heel towards the dog’s face.

He screamed out again as the dog didn’t let go immediately and Shoyo instead made it pull flesh from his leg with his kick. But then it released him, if only for a short moment, but Shoyo could see where it was aiming. His other leg. And he wasn’t fast enough. The teeth caught just beneath his knee and he could more than feel;  _hear_ his bone crushing, being twisted by the force, and Shoyo felt a nausea hit him like a punch.

“Get off,” he cried, shaking hands trying to push him up into sitting again. And then he felt it, on his hip. His knife.

Shoyo wasn’t sure he’d ever moved faster, unclasping the leather sheath and tightening his fingers around the knife’s handle. He didn’t hear the footsteps of guards anymore and he didn’t hear the barks of the dogs upstairs anymore. All Shoyo heard was the sweet, beautiful yell of pain coming from the dog in front of him as he dug his knife into the side of it’s neck.

Shoyo repeated his stabbing. He couldn’t move his right leg, only his left. But he kept digging the knife into the dog over and over.

It was completely still by now. That’s when Shoyo heard the voices.

“But I heard someone scream, you idiot!” someone was yelling and Shoyo’s breath caught in his throat.

He had to move. Now.

He was up on his left leg, no matter how much it hurt, and he stumbled forwards to the armoury. The door was right there and Shoyo pulled it open, letting it close with a bang. He couldn’t care, he just needed to go. Now.

He had left the hatch open this time, falling onto the floor with a curse. He could feel the warmth under his fingers; he knew he was leaving blood everywhere.

He just had to get out.

He had to get out.

Falling inside the hole with his hands first Shoyo caught himself but only barely. He hit his head on the ground too, getting mud inside his mouth. He stared up at the opening of the trap door, breathing heavily. He had to go. _Move_.

Shoyo wasn’t crying any longer, he realized. He had cried when he found Natsu, he had cried because of Izumi, he had cried in pain when the dog bit him. And he had cried when Kageyama left.

Now it just felt sort of useless. How did crying even help? There was so much water anyway.

There was something wrong with Shoyo’s vision, he could tell even in the darkness. Feeling the water under his hands he dragged himself forwards in the dirt. He was constantly slipping and it was fucking heavy; to pull himself forwards with only his arms. He tried kicking a bit with his left leg, cursing as a root or something ripped his shirt under his stomach.

The water was in front of him and it felt so sweet to fall into it.

Shoyo wanted to give in, to the feeling of sleeping.

He was tired and it all felt kind of useless anyway.

He somehow wasn’t getting air into his lungs and he wasn’t really sure why not.

Because it didn’t hurt anymore.

It didn’t hurt.

It was all kind of nice and quiet around him; a bit cold but comfortably so.

Shoyo felt okay.

Until something sharp tugged on his arms.


	6. Nagamushi

Rough grass grew tall around him, which he pushed aside to get through the massive field. The sun’s bright light hit his forehead and cheeks; it burned a little but the warmth was still welcome. His fingertips could feet every straw of rye as he passed, Shoyo walking slowly through the field, step by step. He could see the horizon of trees far ahead of him. He was in no rush, he could close his eyes. The sun was out, just for him. He could rest.

A cracking sound had him opening his eyes, the scent of earth and summer wind still around him. But there was something odd, Shoyo noticed, as he tried to focus his eyes on the tree tops. Something was… off. He tilted his head, trying to grasp what it could possibly be, still taking step by step through the everlasting field. Everything else was so nice. The long straws of rye were so kind to him, caressing his fingers.

‘Don’t worry about it’, the grass whispered and Shoyo figured, with a smile, that was okay. He was comfortable, the sun was warm. And even though he wasn’t really breathing that didn’t matter too much.

Another crack.

“Shoyo,” someone called. A voice far away.

Shoyo peeked one eye open, his orange hair dancing as a hard wind passed. And then his eyes widened. There, over the tips of the pine trees, way back were dark, looming clouds crawling. Coming closer, spreading wider and taking up all the light there was.

“Shoyo.”

Stopping in his tracks his head tilted further upwards, eyes following the dark clouds as they passed over him. The wild wind had picked up and was now throwing around his hair and clothes. It was a lot colder. The dark shapes, spirals and spears were moving up there, in the dark sky.

“Shoyo!”

The rough feeling of water leaving his lungs had Shoyo panic at the sudden awareness of everything. Where was he? Why couldn’t he see? Nails, spikes and pieces of glass were trying to crawl down his throat and Shoyo somehow found ground, turning to throw up whatever he could. His lungs were fighting him, trying to push out the water and grab for whatever air they could at the same time. It hurt. It fucking hurt so bad.

Crying, digging his fingers into the ground, Shoyo just wanted to go back to that nice field. What was this hell?

Where was he?

“Shoyo, I need you to hold on,” a deep voice spoke close to his right side. It was collected and calm; familiar.

“Help,” he tried to say between the coughs, barfing and crying but he wasn’t sure if it came through. Shoyo tried again, left hand loosing it’s grip on the ground. Was he even coughing up water? It felt like blood.

“Shoyo,” the voice spoke again, so calming to Shoyo’s ears. He was sure who it was. His fingers were shaking as he tried to raise a little, open his eyes. They stung and his vision was blurry. He had water in his ears. But he was right.

Kageyama was right there, in front of him. The vren’s eyes were searching Shoyo’s, he could tell, and a tired smile fell on the human’s lips as he let go once more. Falling down onto the ground again.

“No, you do not,” someone growled, probably Kageyama.

“You came back,” Shoyo mumbled. His mouth hurt so he closed it with a small frown. His vision was dark so he must’ve closed his eyes as well.

“We have to go, now. Get on,” Kageyama continued to bark and Shoyo wondered if he should perhaps get up. Kageyama sounded mad. But didn’t he always? Shoyo figured that it was still wise to listen to him. He was a vren after all. Rolling onto his back he then pushed himself to sit up, pulling his knees up.

Except his legs didn’t listen.

Shoyo opened his eyes, looking down.

In silence his eyes stared at… what couldn’t be his legs, could they? Was this a trick?

Shoyo felt sick again, terribly sick. The skin on his thighs and down was pale white, incredibly so, and the red and blue marks were standing out.

A weak scream in shock left his lips as he stared at his mangled limbs. There dark bite marks were spots on his skin, his right foot pointing a bit too much to the side.

“You can panic later, we have to go,” Kageyama said by his side while Shoyo brought his shaking hands up to his face, to cover his mouth. The vren then appeared blocking his view, one paw between Shoyo’s legs.

“Now,” the vren growled and Shoyo inwardly shivered at the force in his words. Slowly starting to nod he then waited for something, a command. His legs would be okay. It would be okay. Why couldn’t he feel them?

“Grab onto my neck,” Kageyama said and laid down just beside him. Shoyo dug his fingers into the black fur, surprised how cold his own hands were compared to the warmth of the vren. He had always been warmer but this was...

He couldn't feel anything in his legs neither as Kageyama helped him get up, lying flat on his back, both legs on either side. Shoyo stared blindly at nothing as the vren started running, slowly at first. Shoyo couldn’t hold on with more than his arms and hands and he noted Kageyama keeping a slightly slower pace, which also kept his body more in balance.

Shoyo didn’t know where they were but a forest was up just ahead. Somehow the shelter of the trees was nice, and Shoyo then noted the orange light meeting them through the oaks, birch and fir trees. The wet moss was glistening in the early sunlight. It was morning.

“W-where is Natsu?” Shoyo asked, his voice weak. Hopefully Kageyama heard him.

“There is a shelter, not too far from here. They are hidden there,” Kageyama replied, and rather than hearing his voice Shoyo could feel the vibrations as he spoke. The human pushed his face into the warm fur, nodding. Kageyama was kind of wet but still warm nonetheless.

Shoyo was constantly close to falling asleep the entire way and Kageyama huffed and barked every time he felt the human start to slip on his back. Shoyo nearly went to the forest floor once but Kageyama was quicker, side-stepping and leaning against a tree.

He didn’t remember how long it took but surely hours. The sun was bright in his eyes as he finally felt Kageyama slow down, now walking along a trampled path. Blueberries were growing on both sides and Shoyo wondered if they could stop and eat some. He was terribly hungry.

Tiredly lifting his head he could suddenly see a house, a barn and a barbed wire fence. A farm?

Kageyama walked up to the door of the house, knocking one of his frown paws against it. It didn’t take long before it opened. Shoyo was too tired to raise his head. He just wanted to sleep now.

“Oh shit,” someone hissed, Shoyo frowning at the suddenly loud sound.

“Daichi! He’s here!” a man’s voice continued to yell, hands suddenly grabbing around his neck. Shoyo grunted as someone felt his pulse. He was beaten, sure, but alive, damn it.

“Get him on the bed,” the man continued, Shoyo whining when he was lifted from the warmth that was Kageyama. The sheets suddenly beneath his body were softer but also cooler. Now he could see the person, a man older than him but much too young to have grey hair, as he did.

“Hinata? How are you feeling?” the stranger asked, placing a soft palm on his forehead. Shoyo blinked weakly at him.

“Fine,” he got out as a whisper, turning to look for Kageyama. His eyebrows rose as he instead saw a naked man in the corner of the room, hastily pulling on pants and then turning around. Oh, it was Kageyama. He watched the vren, now human, pick up a shirt and pull it over his head. Shoyo suspected it was inside-out from the look of it.

Shoyo smiled and reached out a hand for him.

“He cannot feel neither of his legs and the bite marks are not bleeding any longer,” Kageyama said to the grey-haired man, voice rushed, ignoring Shoyo’s hand. Shoyo pouted a little, settling for weakly hitting Kageyama’s leg, as that was all he could reach. Kageyama looked down at his hand, then his face. He looked clueless. Like he had no idea Shoyo was trying to hold his hand.

Shoyo wasn’t sure if he could blush with how weak he felt, probably no blood left in his body, but he surely felt a bit awkward. He let his hand drop to the bed and turned his face forwards, staring up at the ceiling.

“It doesn’t look infected,” he heard the stranger mumble and Shoyo could tell he was examining his leg in the corner of his eye. He still couldn’t feel where he was touching.

“You said you couldn’t feel anything?” the man asked, clearly a question directed to Shoyo. He met his eyes, shaking his head.

The man seemed to think something over then moved his hands lower, Shoyo lifting his head a bit so he could watch. The man was examining his foot, the limb still pointing weirdly to the left and Shoyo averted his eyes so he wouldn’t barf again.

Shoyo settled for looking around the room for a moment, eyeing the window on the wall to his right. Faded, yellow curtains prevented the sunshine to shine through. Both walls, ceiling and floor seemed to be made of wood. A colourful rag rug lied on the floor and it reminded Shoyo of the ones his grandmother had made, that covered nearly every floor in her old house. There was a small chair in one corner and an old dresser with an oil lantern on. Rather than that the room was kind of naked.

Then, before he realized it, he could suddenly feel fingertips digging into his leg. Shoyo was about to exclaim happiness and inform the two he could feel something.

And then terrible pain erupted just beneath his knee and in his foot. Shoyo yelled loudly, Kageyama there to slap a hand over his mouth. Like that was the most important thing to do. Shoyo had sat up in the shock, staring at the stranger who looked terrified down by the foot of the bed. He was still gripping Shoyo’s foot which was now pointing the normal direction.

“Well, it seemed to work,” the stranger breathed as Shoyo’s voice died. The pain was fading and he pushed Kageyama’s hand away in annoyance.

“What did you do?!” Shoyo hissed, hands gripping his leg in reflex.

“I _think_ I set your foot straight again. Can you move it?” the stranger asked like he just hadn’t inflicted terrible pain onto him. Shoyo continued to glare at him, reminding himself to breathe and blinked down at his leg.

He tried wiggling his toes and hissed at the stinging sensation crawling up his entire leg. But his toes had moved, he was sure of it.

“Great!” The man exclaimed, like he’d just won a large betting.

Shoyo gulped. He tried pulling up his knee and his leg wobbled a little but moved up, just a bit. It hurt, though, so he let it fall down against the covers again. His eyes then moved over to his other leg, where the bite marks were scattered. He only remembered the damn hound biting him once, maybe twice but the many marks proved him otherwise.

He tried moving it but nothing happened.

“I think you need to rest now, your body will take care of the rest. The bite marks doesn’t look infected but I’ll treat them with-”

The man quieted as they both heard a running sound, some shuffling just outside the door and then it slammed open. A tall man, black hair and strong features looked around the room.

“You must be Hinata,” he started, breathing loudly from his apparent running, “how are you feeling?”

Shoyo blinked in confusion, glancing at Kageyama yet again. The vren kept as quiet as ever.

“I-I’m good,” Shoyo said, voice still weak. The man nodded hastily, then walked into the room, closing the door behind him.

“They were tracking the area, sorry it took me so long. I’m pretty sure I’ve got them off-track though,” he spoke to the grey-haired and Kageyama, both nodding.

“I will go make sure,” Kageyama nodded, Shoyo looking at him in confusion. What were they talking about?

“You need rest,” the grey-haired man straightened up, speaking sternly as he glared at the vren. He was still holding Shoyo’s foot in both hands and the human couldn’t help squirm a little. What if he tried pulling it again for some reason.

He glanced up at the group. Theses two people, they had to be okay with Kageyama being a vren, Shoyo suddenly thought. The grey-haired man had at least seen Kageyama as a vren, and as he turned human too.

How did Kageyama know them? They didn’t seem like strangers.

“I am fine,” Kageyama insisted but as he moved for the door the other black-haired man stood in the way, placing a hand on Kageyama’s chest. Both men stilled, staring at each other in silence, like they were having a silent conversation. Shoyo gulped. Was the stranger stupid? Didn’t he know Kageyama was a vren?

The grey-haired had stopped examining Shoyo’s legs and was now looking at the two.

Then Shoyo heard a familiar, low rumbling sound of a growl. It wasn’t coming from only Kageyama but from the black-haired stranger in front of him too. Shoyo stared at them with wide eyes, watching how both men bared their teeth. Shoyo had seen Kageyama do it before, and while it still looked a bit odd for a human to growl like that, it always unsettled him. Perhaps because he knew what Kageyama was truly capable of.

“No fighting in here!” The grey-haired man suddenly barked, Shoyo nearly jumping at the sound. “If you can’t stay civil you get out of my house before you break anything. And you go rest, damn it!” he finished, nodding towards Kageyama. Both of them stared at him in silence. At least they had stopped growling. Then they both left the room in a matter of seconds, Shoyo blinking at the closed door.

“Fucking savages,” the grey-haired mumbled, turning to look at Shoyo. “I’ll go get the ointment. You,” he said, pointing a slim finger at Shoyo, “need to rest too.”

***-***-***

Shoyo woke up at what had to be a couple hours later. It was dark outside; no light shining in from the window. Someone had lit an oil lantern, the flames creating enough light in the room for Shoyo to see. He slowly sat up, instantly frowning at the head ache hitting him. His body was covered with more than one blanket and he tiredly pushed them aside to look at his legs. Both were wrapped with white fabric at several places, safety pins keeping the cloths from falling. On his right leg two wooden planks were attached from his thigh and down, on either side.

“Wonderful,” Shoyo mumbled sarcastically to himself. A wooden cup stood on the nightstand next to him, Shoyo raising his weak arms to grab it. The water tasted amazing on his dry tongue. His stomach churned and twisted in pain, Shoyo placing a hand over it.

He finished the cup, putting it back on the dresser. He blinked tiredly at the door just in time for it to open, a small face peeking inside.

Shoyo immediately straightened up, mouth not being able to form any words in time as Natsu ran inside, jumping onto the bed in one big leap. She barely missed his legs, but only just barely, and Shoyo hugged her closer to his chest to prevent any kicking nonetheless.

“Natsu,” he cried in relief. He scolded himself silently for nearly forgetting about her. When Kageyama found him, when he was brought here, he hadn’t thought about her at all.

“You dumbass,” she mumbled against his neck and he could tell she was crying. He laughed a bit, patting her hair and back. She must’ve gotten a bath, her hair smelled clean again as he kissed the side of her head. Then he looked back in surprise.

Her hair was short, incredibly short. Shorter than his.

“What did you do to your hair?” he asked, blinking. Natsu didn’t move from her hug and mumbled her reply against his shoulder.

“Suga-san said we had to c-c-c-cu-cu-cut our hair and ch-ch-ch-change- change our looks,” she stammered, breathing shakily against his skin. Shoyo nodded slowly. That would make sense, in case someone actually went looking for the slaves. The he remembered what the black-haired stranger had said when Shoyo was brought here. That “they” were tracking the area. The soldiers perhaps? With dogs?

“You’re looking better than I expected,” a voice spoke and Shoyo looked up towards the door. He stared at the boy’s strange hair colour and style, then realizing it was Bokuto. He had cleaned up too and styled his hair upwards, for some reason. Shoyo barely recognized him at first. Two kids he didn’t recognize at all peeked inside the room from behind Bokuto, staring at Shoyo.

“Natsu,” one of them whispered,” Mei found the kitty! It’ a white one,” she said. Natsu shook her head against Shoyo’s neck and he chuckled, holding her close.

“Natsu doesn’t have time now, she needs to spend time with her brother,” Bokuto said, shooing the two kids away. No one seemed to be wearing the slave rags any longer, which made sense. Shoyo wondered where all the new clothes had come from, though.

Bokuto walked up to the bed, carefully sitting down by the foot, smiling sadly at Shoyo.

“I’m assuming you didn’t find Izumi?” he asked, voice more gentle now. Shoyo looked down into the orange mess of Natsu’s hair, running his fingers through the strands.

“I found him. Izumi’s… not with us anymore,” he said, grimacing a bit at the sound Natsu made against his shoulder. Bokuto looked down at the bead spread too, closing his eyes. He whispered something in another language, something Shoyo couldn’t understand, the sounds gentle and soft. Then Bokuto looked up, smiling again.

“It’s amazing how you made it out. Suga-san said you got attacked by the hounds, but didn’t know more. He told me to ask Kageyama but…” Bokuto trailed off, biting his lip.

“It’s where I found Izumi’s body,” Shoyo nodded, “in one of the hound’s cells. It was that one that chased after me,” Shoyo explained, starting to absently rock a bit side to side with Natsu in his lap. “It got both my legs but,” Shoyo paused to smile a bit, “I’m still better off than the damn hound.”

Bokuto chuckled in front of him, Shoyo noting how his upper lip was cracked. He could see several bruises wherever his skin was naked, just like with Natsu. Shoyo unknowingly tightened his arms around her even further.

“But at least I made it out in time,” he sighed. “I remember crawling in the tunnel, because my legs didn’t work. I think I… nearly drowned. Kageyama was the one to pull me out, I’m sure.”

Bokuto nodded, “I figured that too. I-I mean I still haven’t spoken to him but he’s just outside… if you want me to?” Bokuto asked, pointing a thumb towards the door.

Shoyo licked his lips then nodded. His stomach decided to groan loudly again and Shoyo cleared his throat in embarrassment. The sound of Natsu’s giggling made him smile, though, turning to kiss her head once more.

“Maybe I should talk to Suga-san too,” Bokuto chuckled, standing up and leaving through the door.

Shoyo could see a table outside of the room, probably a kitchen of some sort. A couple of kids were seated around it, laughing in lowered voices, whispering to each other, like someone had told them to quiet down.

“Hinata? How are you feeling?” the grey haired man appeared in the door. Was he perhaps ‘Suga-san’ then?

“I’m okay. A little hungry,” he admitted. Natsu leaned back and turned to peek at the man by the door. Shoyo smiled gently at her, reaching down to dry her cheeks.

“Kageyama is out hunting, I’m sure he’ll be back soon with something for me to cook. I’ll get you some bread in the meantime,” the man spoke and left.

Natsu stayed in Shoyo’s lap, drawing lines on the inside of his arm with her fingers. She was trailing the veins in the branching patterns, just like how she used to do with her mother’s arm. They didn’t speak a lot and Shoyo was fine with that. Both had a lot to tell but there was no rush. Perhaps Natsu didn’t want to think about it either.

“I d-d-d-d-don’t want to stay he-here too long,” she finally whispered after a couple minutes. Shoyo leaned down a bit to get her eye contact. She looked at him with a small frown.

“Why?” he asked gently.

“I want to go home,” she explained, gripping the fabric of his shirt.

“Mom isn’t…” Shoyo started but she cut him off.

“I know,” she said, looking at her own hands around his shirt. “But we can st-st-st-st-st… we can stay with Yukitaka-san. O-o-or maybe Shinji’s family.”

Shoyo nodded slowly. He was starting to pay attention to her stuttering. It didn’t seem to leave, even when she seemed as relaxed as now. She had never stuttered, at least not this much, back home. He made a mental note to ask Bokuto about it.

Then he spoke with a small smile; “I want you to go there, Natsu. But I can’t leave yet. My leg’s aren’t well and if the- if Suga-san will let me stay I would like to,” he explained. It was partly the reason why… but not the one the most important to Shoyo.

He didn’t want to leave Kageyama again. He couldn’t exactly ask Kageyama to come with him to Yukigaoka, and he doubted the vren would comply even if he did ask. And Shoyo knew he would regret going if he did. What would he do back home? Lie in one of Yukitaka-san’s extra beds all day? At least here he could get around with the help of Kageyama… if he would help him. If Kageyama was planning to stay here too, that was.

“Do you tru-tru-tru-t-trust the vren?” Natsu asked, looking at him. Shoyo immediately nodded.

“Kageyama can be scary at first but I trust him with my life. And he’s already saved me, more than once,” Shoyo said, patting her cheek lightly. She grabbed his hand, pushing it away, but she was still smiling.

“He’s really big,” she exclaimed, sounding kind of excited. Shoyo couldn’t help but to laugh lightly.

“He is,” he grinned, “but he’s actually a big softie,” Shoyo whispered. Natsu gasped a little, then giggled again.

“Like a big dog,” she said, half a question, half a statement. Shoyo snorted.

“Don’t tell him that, though.”

Suga-san eventually walked inside, carrying a tray, Kageyama in tow. He was back in vren shape and Shoyo wondered if any of the kids here knew if he could turn human. Kageyama had told him it was kind of a secret, so Shoyo doubted it.

Natsu had told him the kids were all sleeping in the barn, behind the hay, in case the soldiers came searching for them. A carriage would be leaving tomorrow, heading south, and Natsu would be on it.

Shoyo could tell Natsu tensed up at the presence of Kageyama, Suga-san apparently realizing too as he chuckled at her look.

“Seems like you’re not welcomed anywhere, Kageyama,” he mumbled, the vren ignoring the comment and sitting by door he closed behind him. Shoyo smiled shyly at him.

“Spinach in cream and elk,” Suga-san declared, gesturing to the food on the tray, “because that’s what the vren decides to drag in. I guess at least everyone will be full,” he sighed. “You’re the one getting the only bread-piece we had left though; the kids voted outside.”

Shoyo nodded, turning to Natsu, waiting for her to get off his lap. She pouted a little.

“Natsu, there’s food for you too in the kitchen. Better get some before the other’s finish it,” Suga-san said and the young girl finally got to her feet. Kageyama was immediately out of the way of the door and she eyed him a little before sneaking outside.

“Did she tell you Julie is leaving tomorrow with the carriage?” Suga-san asked, voice tired. He had rings under his eyes so perhaps he was. Shoyo nodded and reached for the tray.

“There’s one going east too in two days and- you know what? I have to check on the meat. Kageyama can tell you,” Suga-san finished and Shoyo nodded again, a bit confused. The man straight up jogged out of the room, Shoyo blinking after him. He turned to Kageyama with a questioning look.

“Tell me what?” Shoyo asked, breaking a piece from the sort-of stale bread, dipping it into the cream.

“I am not sure,” Kageyama answered. still sitting by the wall. Shoyo frowned.

“Why are you still sitting all the way over there?” he asked between chewing. He was starving. The meat wasn’t near well-done but he couldn’t be bothered. There were probably a lot of hungry kids outside so Shoyo bet Suga-san didn’t have time to spend too much time on ‘perfecting’ the food.

Kageyama walked up to the bed’s side, sitting down there instead. “You were scared of me last time,” he said in a flat tone. Shoyo stopped in his tracks, blushing a bit. Yeah, he remembered, back by the fire when he set Kageyama free.

“I’m sorry about that,” Shoyo apologized, looking at the other.

“No need to be sorry for common sense,” Kageyama replied, looking towards the window.

“Well, it’s you. I’ve told you already; I trust you,” Shoyo said, stuffing the last piece of the bread into his mouth. Kageyama eyed him, a deep sigh leaving him. Shoyo pushed it aside. He wasn’t in the mood for arguing with the vren’s stubborn ass.

“Does any of the kids know you can turn?” he asked with a lowered voice. Kageyama shook his head.

“But Suga-san does?”

“Sugawara knows, yes.”

“Have you eaten yet?” Shoyo continued asking.

“Yes.”

“And you rested earlier?”

“Yes.”

Shoyo slowly nodded, then smiled. He looked at his now empty plate in his lap, carefully moving the tray back to the bedside-table.

“How did you know to find me?” he asked, voice barely a whisper. Kageyama sighed yet again, but this time softer.

“I heard the children talking about you when they fled. Your younger sister was crying a lot.”

Shoyo looked down into his lap.

“If you hadn’t come I would’ve been dead. I was drowning, wasn’t I?”

This time Kageyama didn’t reply verbally, but nodded instead.

“Can you tell me… what happened?” Shoyo asked, tying his fingers together in his lap, looking up at the vren.

“I went inside the tunnel which was nearly flooded. I pulled you outside. Someone had set free all the hounds and they were washed out from the tunnel afterwards.”

Shoyo’s eyes widened, silently asking Kageyama to elaborate on that. The vren snorted in distaste.

“All ran away in fear when they saw me. Brainless cowards,” he spat. Shoyo couldn't help the short laugh that escaped his lips. He covered his mouth, looking cheekily at the vren.

“Then you woke up,” Kageyama finished.

“Do you… maybe know Suga-san from before?” Shoyo asked, curious. He reached for the wooden cup of water on the tray.

“No, but I know Daichi.”

“How?” Shoyo asked, taking a gulp.

“We are cousins,” Kageyama replied and Shoyo spat out the water to the side, hopefully not getting any on the vren. Clearing his throat, coughing, he stared at the other. “W-what?” he croaked.

Even in the dark room Shoyo could see the amusement in Kageyama’s eyes.

“I did not know he was alive or where he was, I happened to find him on my way back,” the vren explained.

Shoyo coughed again, getting the last of the water out. It hurt a lot more than it should, but to be fair he had already tried to drown his lungs with water recently.

“Sorry… I just didn’t think- you know,” Shoyo tried explaining, but he had no idea what he meant himself.

“He is the only relative I have left, as far as I know,” Kageyama added. The human nodded slowly.

“Did you ever have any siblings?”

Kageyama shook his head once more. “In general vrens only have one child, just like humans,” Kageyama said before Shoyo could ask something offensive again. “And I have never met my father nor mother.”

“I see.”

Shoyo sighed, the smell of old wood and hay lingering in his nose. He stared at the pattern of the grey blanket in his lap. His heart felt heavy in his chest. He wanted to keep the conversation going, to hear Kageyama’s voice and learn more about him, but Shoyo stayed silent.

He closed his eyes a while later, resting his head against the wall behind him.

At some point Natsu opened the door to slip inside. It was quiet outside by now so the children must’ve been rushed to sleep. Shoyo watched her eye Kageyama who had lied down on the floor. The vren stood up but Shoyo was there, quickly placing a hand on the vren’s side.

“Stay… please,” he asked Kageyama who turned to look at him, then Natsu. Shoyo looked at her too and she straightened a bit at the looks from both. Then she nodded resolutely.

She walked up Kageyama, Shoyo watching in amusement. Kageyama sat back down, Shoyo having to force himself not to laugh at the scene. The vren was still massive in front of her, and no doubtedly very scary.

“T-thank you for saving m-m-m-m-my-my brother’s life!” Natsu then exclaimed loudly, Shoyo’s eyebrows raising. He couldn’t see Kageyama’s face but he watched the vren lower his head in a deep nod.

Natsu then looked at Shoyo behind the vren, “Can I pet him?” she whispered. Shoyo couldn’t keep out the snorting which turned to laughter. He felt bad for Natsu who instantly turned incredibly red and Kageyama who turned around to glare at him.

The vren looked back at Natsu again, speaking lowly; “I am not a dog.”

Natsu jumped at his voice, taking a step back. Shoyo waved for her attention and for her to get onto the bed. She walked over to the foot of the bed to jump up there, Shoyo still chuckling at the two.

“You can pet him, he actually loves it,” Shoyo whispered in Natsu’s ear, sure the vren would pick it up.

“I think you’re lying,” Natsu whispered back, crawling down beneath the sheets. Shoyo grabbed her and pulled her over to the other side of the bed so she wouldn't hurt herself on the planks on his right leg. She clearly wasn't happy with that arrangement as that was the side the vren was on.

Kageyama didn’t seem to notice, or rather; care. He laid down again, exhaling deeply. Shoyo smiled, pushing down his pillow for him and Natsu to share. He couldn’t move his legs so sleeping was a bit awkward, especially since he wanted to turn onto his side.

Shoyo stayed up for a while, Natsu sleeping by his side.

He thought about Izumi. He couldn’t get the horrible images out of his head. Whatever he went through was nothing compared to his friend, he decided.

***-***-***

Shoyo woke up with Natsu poking him awake. He turned his head towards her, hugging her close and insisting they could sleep some more.

When Sugawara knocked on the door with some tea for Shoyo he suspected it had a numbing effect. He could feel both his legs now, and they hurt a lot more than yesterday. Maybe this Sugawara was a doctor and had figured Shoyo’s legs would hurt; since he hadn’t actually told the stranger himself. Or perhaps he could read minds. Shoyo laughed at the thought.

An old carriage transporting bags of flour was ready when the sun stood at it’s highest point. Bokuto carried Shoyo outside in his arms, the orange-haired a little flustered about the entire ordeal. Many of the kids acclaimed him of being a hero, and here he was, carried like a bride. An old crooked bench was his seat but it was nice to be outside again, even in the slight cold. He also got to meet this Akaashi; the guy Bokuto knew and who was also helping them escape. He was clad in soldier armour, looking a lot younger than he had to be for that profession.

The majority of the children got ready to make way south, taking their seats on the carriage. An older woman with short, stripy hair was the driver, someone who was also in on the plan of smuggling out the children. She had to be Julie then.

It had been a much bigger operation than Shoyo originally thought. Sugawara explained, as he sat down next to Shoyo on the bench, Julie had been ‘one of the lucky ones’ to escape way back. He nodded, half-listening. His eyes were on Natsu where she crouched on the gravel with a circle of kids, everyone petting the white cat that didn’t seem to enjoy the attention at all.

“How can anyone have the heart to-” his voice broke off, but Sugawara seemed to understand.

“Well, for once children are easier to train, at such a young age. And for some slave traders it doesn’t feel as inhuman to take younger kids, because they will grow up with the slavery life and know nothing better. Taking the freedom from someone who’s already seen it is probably a lot more difficult,” he said, like it was obvious. And perhaps it was.

“You know the kingdom isn’t really at fault here, right?” the grey-haired continued. Shoyo raised an eyebrow at him.

“Well, I mean sure, slavery isn’t exactly something I’m for. But you know, all these boys and girls here were taken by the mountain people which-”

“Oh I know,” Shoyo interrupted him, voice tight, “They killed our mother in the process.”

Sugawara didn’t say anything and Shoyo stared at his right leg, stretched out straight with the wooden splints tied on either side. His left leg was no better, limp in a similar fashion. He sighed.

“Sorry, I know what you mean.”

“Perhaps one day they will get what’s coming for them, who knows?” Sugawara pondered beside him, crossing his arms and leaning back against the wall. Shoyo looked at him and the half-dead sunflowers growing just by his side.

When the older woman eventually gave a loud call, that they would leave soon, Natsu was up by Shoyo’s side again, patting his lap with her small hands in an odd rhythm. He promised her he would come see her soon, and that she would be okay with Yukitaka-san. He teased her and told her she would have to get used to cabbage, as the Yukitaka family grew and sold it in town. Shoyo smiled to himself a bit as he remembered how Izumi despised cabbage.

“Will you be safe here?” she asked, eyes big with worry. Shoyo chuckled lightly, brushing her hair behind her ears. Like her mother always did.

“My best friend is a vren, I’ll be fine,” Shoyo smiled. She pouted a little, like she was thinking it over, before nodding. Shoyo had never really thought about Kageyama as his best friend, and sort of hoped the vren himself hadn’t heard that. Sugawara had told him the vren was scanning the forest and area around in case another search party was sent out to look for the slaves. As Sugawara had pondered though, with one raised eyebrow and an unimpressed look, he said the kingdom probably wouldn’t waste money on that.

“Other people will be kidnapped and sold as slaves, but at least this was another win for us… this far. Hopefully the kingdom will stop accepting slaves from the mountain people soon enough. For once, I hope a war erupts between the two instead of these dumb agreements,” Sugawara grumbled.

Natsu was the last one to board the carriage, taking a seat on the back next to a girl she had been talking to earlier. Most children waved goodbye as the two horses grunted and sighed loudly, starting to pull them forwards.

Shoyo sat and watched the carriage disappear. As Sugawara left to go inside Bokuto appeared to sit next to him.

“Why are you not going with her?” he asked, flicking a finger against the wood tied to Shoyo’s leg.

“I’ll just be a hindrance to move right now, and if something happens on the road and they have to hide I’ll slow them down. I need to heal up first,” Shoyo explained, stretching his arms above him. The sun felt nice on his skin.

“Mhm,” Bokuto nodded.

“Oh, I was gonna ask you something. About Natsu’s stuttering,” Shoyo suddenly remembered, watching Bokuto’s face fall a bit.

“It happens to some people, I guess. I can’t recall her stuttering in the beginning but I suppose it developed over the time,” he shrugged, Shoyo nodding.

“Lucky for her Prince Arata never picked it up. She wouldn’t-... he would’ve-” Bokuto trailed off, frowning at the ground. “He wasn’t very nice,” he finished and Shoyo smiled weakly.

“Yeah, I figured.”

“I’m sorry about Izumi, I truly am,” Bokuto continued, Shoyo nodding.

“It’s okay. You knew him too.”

“Not as well as you. He would talk about you sometimes, Natsu too.”

“Oh? About how I am the coolest?”

Bokuto snorted, “Rather the opposite.”

Shoyo elbowed him, rolling his eyes. The carriage was far gone now, the wind calm around the farm. And while Shoyo already missed Natsu he didn’t feel worried for her anymore. She was heading home now, and the Yukitaka’s would take care of her.

***-***-***

After Bokuto and the rest of the kids heading east had left the following day it was suddenly very quiet. Shoyo realized there was a particularly stubborn woodpecker in one of the oaks around him, and that the large fenced field actually held cows. With all the kids around before, he hadn’t had time to notice those things.

Sugawara set Shoyo to work the following morning, helping him to a three-legged stool in the barn where a barrel stood in front of him. This was a smaller room which still seemed to be apart of the barn, but closed off from where the cows stayed on colder nights. It still smelled a bit bad.

Shoyo picked up the wooden plunger, already knowing what he was supposed to do.

“We’ll be storing the butter for two days and then a carriage comes around Friday to pick it up. I’ve been busy with the children so I’m behind my schedule. We need to fill these six pots here,” he gestured to six differently shaped urns with lids on a wobbly-looking table.

“It’s colder outside now so we light the fire here to speed up the process,” he continued, pointing at a small fire on the floor in front of them. Shoyo thought it looked like a damn fire hazard with all the hay spread around the barn as well, but figured Sugawara knew what he was doing.

“Have you churned butter before?” he asked, Shoyo shaking his head weakly. The grey-haired seemed to get a coy look about him. “I’m sure you and your arms will have fun then.”

Shoyo did not have fun churning butter.

His arms were cramping after just an hour and he started whining after two. Sugawara looked rather unimpressed but explained he would have to do his part, staying here. And Shoyo couldn’t exactly talk back to that. He picked a slightly slower pace than the other and fought through it.

“That’s fucking looking like something,” Sugawara smiled gently when he went over to check on the butter forming in the barrel Shoyo was working on. A complete contrast from the words he spoke. The orange-haired curiously looked down at the yellow-white goo. It still looked like cream to him.

“You swear like a sailor,” he mumbled when Sugawara picked up a yellow blob from his own barrel, walking over to clean it in a bowl of water. The grey-haired laughed lightly.

“My father was a sailor,” he explained. “Me and Daichi live out here alone and there’s not really anyone around for miles. Iris comes and picks up the milk and butter with her horse, but she’s basically the company we ever get. Which is why I forget about pretty language, you know? I had to constantly remind myself around the kids.”

“Makes sense. I don’t really mind,”Shoyo assured him, arms continuing to pump the wooden plunger up and down. He was tired but the motion was somehow done by habit by now.

“You shouldn’t. You’re not royalty, right?” he grinned and Shoyo shook his head with a smile.

Sugawara eventually told him he had done enough for today. He would have to continue tomorrow and his arms were needed then too. Kageyama turned up just in time, Shoyo narrowing his eyes at the vren, wondering if he had been listening outside.

Nonetheless Sugawara helped Shoyo up on Kageyama’s back, Shoyo watching Sugawara the entire time. He clearly wasn’t frightened by Kageyama. How close was he to this Daichi? Shoyo hadn’t seen him since the first day.

“At least Kageyama lets you ride him,” Sugawara said with furrowed eyebrows before chuckling lightly. 

Shoyo looked at him with a suspicious gaze. He didn’t have time to ask what that meant before Kageyama walked outside, shutting the door with his back foot on the way.

“Isn’t Daichi as big as you?” he asked the vren. The sun was setting outside, Shoyo not having realized so much time had passed.

“I am taller,” Kageyama simply replied. Shoyo figured that Sugawara was a bit heavier than him, sure, but he was positive Kageyama could carry Sugawara. And if this Daichi was a Royal vren too, he should also be able to carry that weight, right? Unless he meant...

“Are… they friends?” Shoyo asked awkwardly before they could reach the main house. Kageyama stopped a bit in his tracks, turning his head to look out the field.

“They are lovers,” he replied, like it was nothing strange about that.

“What?!” Shoyo hissed in a loud whisper. He looked around, like Daichi or Sugawara was around. “B-but they’re both men!” he insisted, Kageyama shrugging before continuing towards the main door.

“Strange,” Shoyo hummed, wondering why he was feeling so light all of a sudden. His chest felt warm even as the weather had gotten a lot colder lately. Inside the kitchen a fire was burning too, Shoyo taking the sheepskin on the floor as his seat. Kageyama sat beside him, head turned towards the door. Shoyo watched with interest as it opened but he couldn’t see anyone above the table appear.

Then he caught eyes onto the large vren walking inside, eyes just as big as Kageyama’s, looking at the two. He… looked very similar, Shoyo thought.

The human was oblivious to the gasp he made, starring the other vren up and down. In a dark room, or from a distance, Shoyo wouldn’t be able to tell them apart. But in the light from the fire and the lanterns Shoyo could see what differentiated them. When Kageyama said he was taller Shoyo now understood what he meant. It wasn’t by much, but his head stood taller than Daichi’s. And while Kageyama’s fur was rather long this vren’s was cut shorter. Other than that there were only small differences, like a distinction between their faces and ears.

“Hi,” the vren spoke, Shoyo coming back to reality.

“Hello,” he smiled, embarrassed from having stared.

He watched with interest as the two vren’s faced each other, seeming to have a silent conversation of some sort, again. Perhaps that was a vren-thing.

“He’ll be here soon,” Daichi then suddenly said to Kageyama who nodded.

It was a bit odd, sitting by the fire with Kageyama next to him and a clone of him by the door. Shoyo lifted his leg closer to the fire, but to also make room.

“Am I in the way?” he asked Daichi who was still seated by the door.

The vren looked up, seeming surprised. “What? No, of course not,” he immediately insisted.

“You’re just as warm as Kageyama, then?” Shoyo chuckled, trying to make small talk. Kageyama’s silence he was used to, but this was a stranger. Kageyama clearly trusted him, so Shoyo should probably too.

“Yeah. It’s a burden during the summers,” the vren nodded. Shoyo noted how Daichi didn’t have the same thick accent as Kageyama, but rather spoke just like a human would. Shoyo smiled secretly to himself; it was all just Kageyama then. His way of speaking, way of acting, it was just because of how he was as a person rather than anything else.

“Suga is always a sweetheart and cuts my fur then. It takes a bit of time though,” the vren chuckled lightly, an odd look with all the sharp teeth showing, “He always insists to buy a sheep shredder the next time.”

Shoyo couldn’t keep himself from laughing at that idea. He reached for Kageyama behind him, burrowing a hand into the thick fur. “Perhaps you could use a trim too, then?”

The vren simply huffed in reply, immediately shooting down the idea.

Sugawara appeared a couple minutes later, stopping in the door to cross his arms at the three.

“Has no one seriously started on the food?”

No one replied and Sugawara’s look grew even more sour.

“So spinach soup then?” he asked. If Shoyo had learned anything traveling with Kageyama was that he did not enjoy vegetables. Sure, he seemed able to eat them and all, but clearly didn’t enjoy it. Shoyo watched Daichi stand up, shoving his head against Sugawara’s hip. The human ignored him, swatting away his head as he turned to place a pot over the fire.

“At least tell me you’ve cut up the meat,” the human grunted, looking at Daichi.

Silence filled the room, Shoyo pressing his lips tightly together to keep himself from laughing. Daichi looked like he was playing stupid and Kageyama had turned his eyes to the fire, like he heard nothing.

***-***-***

“It is going to break,” Kageyama declared, stubborn eyes upon Shoyo. The human grunted but couldn’t deny him; Kageyama was right. The bed creaked whenever he moved and the wood would surely give in under the vren’s heavy body.

“Help me down then,” Shoyo mumbled, shy eyes on Kageyama. The vren had changed into his human attire, sitting on the small chair in the corner of the room. One hand was holding an old black button up shirt and the other a needle with thread. He had gotten some clothes from Daichi to borrow but apparently ripped a shirt while turning back too hastily. Shoyo had been surprised Kageyama knew his way around with a needle and thread but the vren shrugged it off. Shoyo wasn’t exactly a pro himself but his mother had been a tailor after all; he had some idea. And what he could see of Kageyama sewing on buttons it looked good.

“Give me a second,” Kageyama replied, focusing on the stitching for a minute. Shoyo waited, absently observing him. Kageyama had a small scar running down his jaw, something Shoyo was sure hadn’t been there before. Whenever he was in his vren form scars weren't easy to see, with all that fur. But if he got hurt it would make sense if it also showed when he turned human, right?

Kageyama lifted the thread to bite it off with his teeth, putting the needle between his lips and holding out the shirt. Shoyo could only see the back but assumed it looked good enough, with the vren nodding. Throwing the shirt on the chair Kageyama placed the needle carefully on the windowsill, walking over to Shoyo.

Trying to ignore the obvious redness that spread up his neck and cheeks Shoyo held out his hands to hold onto Kageyama. He lifted him off the bed, bridal style again, of course, and carefully put Shoyo down on the floor. Bridal style might be the easiest position for his legs. It still had Shoyo blushing though.

Now sitting on the floor Shoyo reached up towards the bed, pulling down the thin mattress onto the floor. Kageyama moved out of the way, Shoyo arranging the bed with a bit of difficulty. When the mattress was placed in the corner of the room, blankets and pillow in a mess on top, Shoyo turned to look at Kageyama.

Shoyo held out his hands helplessly, smiling a bit when Kageyama rolled his eyes. Nonetheless, he picked him up again and put him down on the blankets. Kageyama sat down beside him, Shoyo noting how his pants were a lot shorter than what fit him. Tugging a bit on the end he giggled, the vren yet again rolling his eyes.

“It’s really nice here, isn’t it?” Shoyo asked. Gathering a bit of courage he rested back against the wall, like Kageyama, but put his head on his shoulder. Kageyama didn’t seem to mind.

“It is,” the vren agreed.

Shutting his eyes Shoyo placed his hands in his lap, pulling the blanket up a little from under him. He would have to tug it free later when he actually planned on sleeping.

They sat in silence for a while. Shoyo could hear someone still moving around in the kitchen, perhaps Sugawara.

“Can I ask you what you- where you were headed before you turned back?” Shoyo asked, voice nearly quiet. Kageyama didn’t stiffen or move under his head so it was probably okay.

“I… had something to settle first,” Kageyama said, a bit hesitant in his voice. “I could probably have done so after helping you, because I was planning to, but…” he stopped, clearly having some trouble with the words.

“I was too eager to get it done with. If I had waited, and helped you first, your legs would have been okay. I am sorry.”

Shoyo had to sit up straight and turn to look at the other, as surprised as he was.

“I-I don’t blame you,” Shoyo said, shocked Kageyama would even think so.

“Of course you do not,” Kageyama smiled, Shoyo’s attention immediately turning to his lips. It was such an unusual thing to see he focused on the pull of lips right away. “I am still upset with myself-” Kageyama continued but Shoyo broke him off;

“Don’t be!” he insisted, leaning a bit towards the other, eager to get him to drop those thoughts. “You didn’t have to do anything, I’m still really happy you came back, but you really didn’t need to. You helped me so much on the road, I definitely wouldn’t have made it to Miyagi without you-”

“You saved my life, the day we met,” Kageyama interrupted him. He looked… not quite tired but rather somber. “Another day and I might have been lost to this world.”

The words Shoyo had planned to speak somehow stopped in his throat and he stared at the other, trying to figure out how to convince Kageyama of not blaming himself. It was unusual for the other to be so straight forwards and admit something… weak about himself. The human licked his lips, clearing his mind.

“I saved you once and you saved me many more times, Kageyama,” Shoyo insisted, speaking slower this time. He was trying to turn further to face him but his dumb legs were still like stone. Shoyo took a break from their conversation to physically lift his leg and throw it forwards. With his ankle landing over Kageyama’s he pushed himself up in his face, trying to keep a stern look. “If anything I owe you. I’m just so damn lucky I found you that day. I mean, sure I found you, but compared to how many times you helped me. Hell, the entire trip probably wouldn’t have… -what?” Shoyo trailed off, watching Kageyama’s expression change.

The vren didn’t say anything, looking rather stumped for words. Shoyo raised an eyebrow, losing the grip he apparently had taken on the other’s shirt. Then his ears picked it up. The unusual, rhythmic sound of wood banging against wood. Was someone knocking?

But after just a few seconds his brain caught up with him and Shoyo slowly sank down in his seat, cheeks heating up. Kageyama met his eyes, Shoyo hearing his own heart beat loudly in his ears.

At least that kind of faded out the sound coming from Sugawara and Daichi’s bedroom.

**Author's Note:**

> This is based on/ heavily inspired by a book I read as a teenager. It had the same title - Vren - and there were three books in the series. If anyone's happened to have read it; I'm not gonna follow the story at all. The creature 'vren' is taken from the book along with some similar scenes in the first chapter, but that's about it.
> 
> I've had this idea for a while and I'm so exited to finally get to write it! ( ƅ°ਉ°)ƅ  
> If you would like to read more please let me know! Thank you~


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